Organic Solar Cells Improved by Optically Resonant Silicon Nanoparticles

Abstract

Silicon nanophotonics has become a versatile platform for optics and optoelectronics. For example, strong light localization at the nanoscale and lack of parasitic losses in infrared and visible spectral ranges make resonant silicon nanoparticles a prospect for improvement in such rapidly developing fields as photovoltaics. Here, we employed optically resonant silicon nanoparticles produced by laser ablation for boosting the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. Namely, we created colloidal solutions of spherical nanoparticles with a range of diameters (80–240 nm) in different solvents. We tested how the nanoparticles’ position in the device, their concentration, silicon doping, and method of deposition affected the final device efficiency. The best conditions optimization resulted in an efficiency improvement from 6% up to 7.5%, which correlated with numerical simulations of nanoparticles’ optical properties. The developed low-cost approach paves the way toward highly efficient and stable solution-processable solar cells.

3D and Inkjet Printing by Colored Mie-Resonant Silicon Nanoparticles Produced by Laser Ablation in Liquid

“…The proposed technology, which is based on laser ablation in liquid (LAL), paves the way for the inkjet printing of large-scale polymer patterns with stable colors on arbitrary surfaces or even optoelectronic devices [ 18 , 19 ], and we believe that this approach is promising for industrial applications when all parameters of LAL are optimized for a particular task. For example, the productivity of the LAL method is one of the most important factors for a wide practical application.…”

Optical Manipulation of Incident Light for Enhanced Photon Absorption in Ultrathin Organic Photovoltaics

“…By introducing nanostructures into an indium tin oxide or indium zinc oxide transparent electrode, the light trapping effect and electrical properties can be simultaneously improved [12,13]. Furthermore, localized surface plasmon resonance can be obtained by introducing metal nanoparticles into the interlayer and/or photoactive layer [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22], and the propagating surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) effect occurs at the interface between the photoactive layer and metal electrode; these effects can greatly improve the absorption performance [1,9,23].…”

Editorial: Special Issue “Laser Synthesis and Processing of Nanostructured Materials”

“…Special Issue was focused on recent trends in the fabrication of functional nanostructures, nanomaterials and nanotextured surfaces using laser radiation. The resulting content of this Special Issue comprising 10 original papers reflects the diversity of the developing nanofabrication strategies that utilize pulsed laser radiation, including pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) for nanomaterial generation [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ], pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of functional coatings [ 5 ], laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) [ 6 ], laser sintering [ 7 ], pulsed laser surface nanotexturing [ 8 ] and direct laser writing in transparent media [ 9 , 10 ].…”

“…Importantly, their work follows the recent trend of using laser post-treatment for defect engineering in PLAL-synthesized nanomaterials, allowing one to boost the catalytic activity of the product. Finally, Sandzhieva et al reported the use of laser synthesis of Si nanoparticles in different liquids for photovoltaic applications [ 4 ]. Notably, the utilization of non-plasmonic nanoparticles supporting so-called Mie resonances is an actively developing trend in designing advanced optoelectronic devices such as thin-film photodetectors and solar cells.…”