Recent advances in hybrid solar cells based on metal oxide nanostructures

Hybrid solar cells are novel photovoltaic devices combining the advantages from organic and inorganic components. This paper mainly reviews our recent research advances in hybrid polymer-based solar cells (HPSCs) that have organic conjugated polymers as main electron donor and nanostructures of metal oxides (ZnO and TiO2) as main electron acceptor in photoactive layer, with emphasis on the theoretical models for studying charge carrier transport dynamics by intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy (IMPS) and intensity modulated photovoltage spectroscopy (IMVS), the preparation of nanomaterials for efficient devices, and the device performance related to nanostructural characteristics; a few examples of other hybrid solar cells that have a similar architecture but a different photovoltaic principle in respect to HPSCs are also included. Finally, main challenges in basic researches and practical applications of these solar cells are discussed. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.