Interface control is an important approach in polymer based solar cells because the interface properties on bulk heterojunction can govern the device performance. We select an organic triphenylamine-type sensitizer to tune the interfacial characters in TiO2 nanorod array/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) hybrid solar cell device. In addition to physically improving the compatibility between TiO2 nanorod and polymer contact junction, the introduction of modifier reduces the charge recombination, prolongs the electron lifetime, and thus optimizes the device performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.