Pure and Al doped ZnO thin films as well as Al-doped ZnO nanorod arrays (AZO NR) with different growth periods were prepared and evaluated as photo-electrodes for hybrid solar cells. ZnO thin films doped with Al were prepared by sol–gel spin-coating technique, while hydrothermal method was used to synthesis of Al-doped ZnO nanorods. The effect of growth period was investigated in order to obtain AZO nanorods suitable for applications in hybrid solar cells. Experimental results showed that using one dimensional structure of AZO nanorods is an effective way to improve device performance. Morphology and optical absorption of thin films and nanorod arrays were analyzed by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-Visible absorption spectra, respectively. The maximum power conversion efficiency of 3.86% in the inverted configuration of ITO/AZO film/AZO NRs/P3HT/PCBM/Ag hybrid solar cell was achieved for a device based on AZO NR15 (grown for 15 min) under an illumination of one Sun (AM 1.5 G, 100 mW/cm2).
