Incorporation of black phosphorus into poly(3-hexylthiophene)/n-type Si devices resulting improvement in rectifying and optoelectronic performances

•Black phosphorus (BP) is a p-type two-dimensional material.•BP is incorporated into the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) films.•BP doping leads to a significant increase in the carrier mobility of P3HT.•The interfacial modification of P3HT/n-type Si is found by doping with BP.•BP doping results improvement in the rectifying performances for P3HT/Si devices. The effect of the incorporation of black phosphorus (BP) into poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) on the electrical conduction mechanisms in the rectifying current-voltage characteristics of P3HT/n-type Si devices was investigated. It is shown that the rectifying behavior is affected by the bulk effects of the P3HT layer and the forward-voltage current is limited by thermionic emission and space charge limited current mechanisms. The incorporation of BP into P3HT leads to a combined effect of a significant increase in the hole mobility and the interfacial modification of P3HT/n-type Si, resulting improvement in the rectifying and optoelectronic performances of P3HT/n-type Si devices.