Photovoltaic properties of the copper-phthalocyanine and ZnO nanorod array system affected by ethanol

Well-aligned ZnO nanorod array, fabricated on conductive indium-tin-oxide (ITO) substrate by wet chemical bath deposition (CBD) method, was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Surface photovoltage (SPV) technique was employed to study the photovoltaic properties of the copper-phthalocyanine (CuPc) and ZnO nanorod array system affected by ethanol. Prior to ethanol adsorption, two pronounced SPV response bands were exhibited for this system in the range 300–410 and 540–760 nm, respectively. Post-adsorption measurements reveal that the SPV intensity of the former band is enhanced, while that of the latter band is suppressed if ethanol was used to modify CuPc surface. Moreover, both of the SPV intensity of two response bands is enhanced if ethanol was used to modify ZnO and CuPc interface. Mechanisms of these phenomena were suggested.