Gold Nanorods Incorporated Cathode for Better Performance of Polymer Solar Cells

Abstract

The effect of inserting low density of gold nanorods in the metallic rear electrode of polymer solar cells on their performance was studied. Gold nanorods were introduced by spin-coating their aqueous solution directly on top of the poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methyl-ester layer. The resulting devices showed a 5% increase in the short circuit current that leads to a 14% enhancement in the power conversion efficiency. Investigation on the photocurrent spectral response of devices with/without gold nanorods revealed that incorporating the rods helped in enhancing the devices photogenerated current near the plasmonic absorption modes of the rods. The enhancement in the devices efficiency is related to the increase in their absorptivity due to the far-field and near-field effect of localized surface plasmon resonance induced by the presence of the rods in the interface between the photoactive layer and the metallic rear electrode.

Effects of Aspect Ratio Heterogeneity of an Assembly of Gold Nanorod on Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance

“…Particularly, gold (Au) based nanostructures have received enormous attention , due to a number of advantages including chemical inertness/stability, tunable optoelectronic properties, large surface-to-volume ratio, and strong light–matter interactions at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. They have thus found a use in various applications including data storage, − photovoltaics, − cell imaging, − drug delivery, − photothermal therapy, ,, catalysis, − and surface-enhanced spectroscopy. − …”

Progress in Plasmonic Enhanced Bulk Heterojunction Organic/Polymer Solar Cells

“…Both the enhanced field intensity around rods and large scattering from NRs18, together with a slight increase in surface roughness of the film contribute to the improved cell performances. Mahmoud et al [89] have achieved 14% and 5% increase, respectively, in power conversion efficiency and short circuit current density of polymer solar cells by spin-coating a layer of Au NRs on top of the photoactive film P3HT:PCBM in contact with the cell's rear electrode. The improvement in the device performance was related to both far-field and near-field effect associated with the LSPR of Au NRs.…”

Efficiency enhancement in organic solar cells by incorporating silica-coated gold nanorods at the buffer/active interface

“…There are a plethora of different particles in this realm featured of diverse compositions, shapes, and sizes. There have been many existing endeavors of doping NPs into the buffer layer (hole transport or electron transport layer) [32][33][34][35] or at the electrode/buffer interface [36][37][38] , but the large distance between the plasmonic elements and the active material alleviate the enhancement effect in photon-to-exciton generation. So far the attributed positive effects on improving PCE include light scattering [23][24][25] , local field enhancement [26][27][28] , charge transport improvement [29][30][31] , etc.…”

“…22 So far the attributed positive effects for improving PCEs include light scattering, [23][24][25] local field enhancement, [26][27][28] charge transport improvement, [29][30][31] etc. There have been many existing endeavors to dope NPs into the buffer layer (hole transport or electron transport layer) [32][33][34][35] or at the electrode/ buffer interface, [36][37][38] but the large distance between the plasmonic elements and the active material alleviates the enhancement effect in photon-to-exciton generation. Aiming at exploiting the plasmonic effect, NPs should be introduced into the active layer [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49] or at least at the buffer/active interface.…”