Nanorods and nanotubes as photoactive materials as well as electrodes in photovoltaic cells have been launched a few years ago, and the literature in this field started to appear only recently. The first steps have shown both advantages and disadvantages of their application, and the main expectation associated with their effective charge transport has not been realized completely. This article aims to review both the first and the recent tendencies in the development and application of nanorod and nanotube materials in photovoltaic cells. Two basic techniques of synthesis of crystalline nanorod structures are described, the top-down and bottom-up approaches, respectively. Design and photovoltaic performance of solar cells based on various semiconductor nanorod materials, such as TiO2, ZnO, CdS, CdSe, CdTe, CuO, Si are presented and compared with respective solar cells based on semiconductor nanoparticles. Specific of synthesis and application of carbon nanotubes in photovoltaic devices is also reviewed.

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Photovoltaic (PV) response of hybrid organic/inorganic bilayer heterostructures based on organic polymers or small molecules on the one hand, such as poly(3‐hexylthiophene), polyaniline doped with poly(styrenesulfonic acid), poly(ethylene‐3,4‐dioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PEDOT:PSS), phthalocyanine, and inorganic CdS or CdSe single crystals on the other hand, has been studied depending on the crystal facet used. The effect of the surface‐terminated layer of the crystal on the PV performance of hybrid heterojunctions has been observed. It was found that the different crystal facets could render both quantitative and qualitative effect on PV properties of the hybrid heterojunctions. Photocurrent spectra of CdS/PEDOT:PSS heterojunctions based on the Cd‐terminated (solid curve) and S‐terminated (dashed curve) crystal facet.

The behaviour of a hybrid heterojunction (HJ) of an inorganic semiconductor cadmium sulfide (CdS) single crystal (102 Ω cm) and an organic conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) : poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT : PSS) has been studied using electrical and photoelectrical measurements as well as ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) with in situ Ar ion etching. Photovoltaic data and current–voltage characteristics demonstrated that the HJ is a Schottky diode with an electron barrier height ca φb = 0.5 eV. The estimates based on the energy balance at the interface allowed us to assert on the presence of an interfacial dipole with an energy offset of −0.3 eV. A dipole barrier of the same magnitude was also clearly revealed from the UPS measurements directly.