Dual plasmonic-enhanced bulk-heterojunction solar cell incorporating gold nanoparticles into solution-processed anode buffer layer and active layer

Zhou, L., Yang, J., Zhou, Y., Han, S.-T., Huang, L., Yan, Y. and Roy, V.A.L. (2015) Dual plasmonic-enhanced bulk-heterojunction solar cell incorporating gold nanoparticles into solution-processed anode buffer layer and active layer. Physica Status Solidi - Rapid Research Letters, 9(2), pp. 115-119. (doi: 10.1002/pssr.201409401)

Abstract

A dual plasmonic resonance effect on the performance of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT):phenyl C61‐butyricacid methyl ester (PC61BM) based polymer solar cells (PSCs) has been demonstrated by selectively incorporating 25 nm colloidal gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) in a solution‐processed molybdenum oxide (MoO3) anode buffer layer and 5 nm colloidal Au NPs in the active P3HT:PCBM layer. The devices exhibit up to ∼20% improvement in power conversion efficiency which is attributed to the dual effect of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au NPs with enhanced light absorption and exciton generation. Our report shows a guideline on the usage of dual LSPR effect for the solution‐processed polymer solar cells to achieve high efficiencies.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: We acknowledge grants from City University of Hong Kong's Strategic Research Grant Project no. 7002724, the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Project No. T23‐713/11) and Shenzhen Municipality project No. JCYJ20120618115445056.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Vellaisamy, Professor Roy
• Authors: Zhou, L., Yang, J., Zhou, Y., Han, S.-T., Huang, L., Yan, Y., and Roy, V.A.L.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Physica Status Solidi - Rapid Research Letters
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1862-6254
• ISSN (Online): 1862-6270
• Published Online: 07 January 2015