We demonstrate response and lifetime improvements for organic photovoltaic (OPV) by using organic bathophenanthroline (Bphen) and inorganic molybdenum oxide (MoO3) as a compound cathode buffer layer (CBL). Not only power conversion efficiency (PCE) increases by 27% but also working and storage lifetimes extend at least 10 and 60 times respectively comparing with PV cell with 5 nm thick Bphen as CBL The optimized PV structure is ITO/CuPc (20 nm)/C-60 (40 nm)/Bphen (2 nm)/MoO3 (5 nm)/Al and the CBL of the reference device is 5 nm Bphen without MoO3 layer. The achievement of PV performance and lifetime improvement by introducing such a compound CBL is attributed to appropriate level alignment between C-60, Bphen and MoO3, and stable inorganic MoO3 can prevent from superior oxygen and moisture diffusion into the C-60 acceptor layer. The detailed working mechanism of the compound Bphen/MoO3 CBL in the OPV cells is also argued. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.