Indium-tin-oxide nanorods for efficient light trapping in polymer solar cells

In this study, a wet chemical method of etching indium-tin-oxide (ITO) nanorods from commercially available ITO-coated glass is proposed and its applicability to polymer solar cells (PSCs) is validated. The ITO nanorods can be fabricated within a few minutes using the proposed method. The ITO-nanorod-based PSCs show 67% and 46% improvement in short-circuit current density and power conversion efficiency, respectively, compared with devices based on flat ITO electrodes. The enhanced performance is related to the anti-reflection and light-scattering properties of ITO nanorods, which enhance incident light intensity and light-trapping properties.