Organic solvent wetting properties of UV and plasma treated ZnO nanorods: printed electronics approach

Due to low manufacturing costs, printed organic solar cells are on the short-list of renewable and environmentally- friendly energy production technologies of the future. However, electrode materials and each photoactive layer require different techniques and approaches. Printing technologies have attracted considerable attention for organic electronics due to their potentially high volume and low cost processing. A case in point is the interface between the substrate and solution (ink) drop, which is a particularly critical issue for printing quality. In addition, methods such as UV, oxygen and argon plasma treatments have proven suitable to increasing the hydrophilicity of treated surfaces. Among several methods of measuring the ink-substrate interface, the simplest and most reliable is the contact angle method. In terms of nanoscale device applications, zinc oxide (ZnO) has gained popularity, owing to its physical and chemical properties. In particular, there is a growing interest in exploiting the unique properties that the so-called nanorod structure exhibits for future 1-dimensional opto-electronic devices. Applications, such as photodiodes, thin-film transistors, sensors and photo anodes in photovoltaic cells have already been demonstrated. This paper presents the wettability properties of ZnO nanorods treated with UV illumination, oxygen and argon plasma for various periods of time. Since this work concentrates on solar cell applications, four of the most common solutions used in organic solar cell manufacture were tested: P3HT:PCBM DCB, P3HT:PCBM CHB, PEDOT:PSS and water. The achieved results prove that different treatments change the contact angle differently. Moreover, solvent behaviour varied uniquely with the applied treatment.