Photocurrent enhancements of organic solar cells by altering dewetting of plasmonic Ag nanoparticles (original) (raw)
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Solar Energy, 2015
Ag nanoparticles were grown on glass and PEDOT:PSS by RF magnetron sputtering. Ag deposition on glass and PEDOT:PSS showed a substrate dependent nanoparticle growth morphology and a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect in the visible region. The article reports the optical properties of Ag and Ag/PEDOT:PSS layers by theoretical simulations of UV-vis transmittance spectroscopy. The Bergman effective medium theory was used to simulate the layer of isolated and semi-continuous Ag nanoparticles hosted in an air matrix. PEDOT:PSS was simulated by using a combination of frequency dependent free charge carriers (extended Drude model) and interband transitions. The complex dielectric function, refractive index (g) and extinction coefficient (j) of Ag nanoparticles and Ag modified PEDOT:PSS layers have been deduced from the simulation of the UV-vis spectra between 350 and 1500 nm. The modification in dielectric function of PEDOT:PSS by Ag enhanced the charge carrier transport. A photoactive layer (P3HT:PCBM) was spin coated on to Ag/PEDOT:PSS/ITO/glass to demonstrate the enhancement in light harvesting. The incorporation of Ag plasmons influenced both the open circuit voltage (V oc) and short circuit current (J sc). The optimum nanoparticle incorporation enhanced the efficiency (PCE) from 0.54% to 1.4% ie., a 2.6 times enhancement in our simple reference device. The local field enhancement from LSPR in the visible range coincided with the absorption regime of the photoactive polymer. Our results further show that augmenting the size and density of Ag nanoparticles leads to optical losses due to poor coupling with the active layer.
Plasmonics, 2013
Incident photon conversion efficiency of the absorbing materials at either side of a thin film solar module can be enhanced by integrating a plasmonic interface. Silver nanoparticles represent a good candidate that can be integrated to a thin film solar cell for efficient light-trapping. The aim of this work is to fabricate plasmonically active interface consisting of Ag nanoparticles embedded in Al:ZnO that has the potential to be used at the front surface and at the back reflector of a thin film solar cell to enhance light-trapping and increase the photoconversion efficiency. We show that Ag can readily dewet the Al:ZnO surface when annealed at temperatures significantly lower than the melting temperature of Ag, which is beneficial for lowering the thermal budget and cost in solar cell fabrication. We find that such an interface fabricated by a simple dewetting technique leads to plasmonic resonance in the visible and near infrared regions of the solar spectrum, which is important in enhancing the conversion efficiency of thin film solar cells.
Journal of Science: Advanced Materials and Devices, 2021
Three different silver nanoprisms (AgNPrs) were combined and used as light-trapping materials in organic solar cells (OSCs). These mixed AgNPrs (M-AgNPrs) increased the photocarrier generation in the OSCs due to the broadband absorption, which was attributed to mutual multiple plasmonic excitations covering the entire visible light region. The M-AgNPrs were incorporated into a poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) hole-transport layer in the OSCs. The UVevis spectra, atomic force microscope images and current density versus voltage curves of the fabricated devices were recorded at different loading concentrations of the M-AgNPrs. Finite-difference time-domain simulation, impedance spectroscopy, and measurement of incident photon-to-current efficiency of the devices confirmed the effect of the multiple plasmonic excitations. The results suggest that, in an optimum condition, the efficiency of the OSCs loaded with M-AgNPrs was 7.9% higher than the reference OSC.
2021
In this paper, the light absorption the active layer of polymer polymer solar cells (OPV) by using plasmonic nanocrystals with hexagonal lattice is investigated. To study the relation between the performance of the OPV solar cell and its active layer, a three-dimensional model for its morphology is utilized. Therefore, the three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain method and Lumirical software were used to measure the field distribution and light absorption in the active layer in terms of wavelength. OPV solar cells with bilayer and bulk heterojunction structured cells were designed using hexagonal lattice crystals with plasmonic nanoparticles, as well as, core-shell geometry to govern a design to optimize light trapping in the active layer. The parameters of shape, material, periodicity, size, the thickness of the active layer as a function of wavelength in OPV solar cells have been investigated. A very thin active layer and an ultra-thin shell were used to achieve the h...
2010
Plasmonic phenomenon inside the materials composing an organic solar cell based on a photoactive poly(2-methoxy-5-(2 0-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene):(6,6)-phenyl-C 61-butyric-acid-methyl ester (MEH-PPV:PCBM) bulk heterojunction is studied using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) method calculations and the modeling results are compared with experimental results. Enhanced absorptance of light up to 50% is experimentally obtained in a 50-nm-thick blend layer including spin-coated silver nanospheres with a diameter of 40 nm. FDTD calculations based on the design of 2D-grating of nanoparticles confirm the high values of absorptance. Spatial distributions of electromagnetic field power density in the structures show confinement of the power at the interface or in the vicinity of the nanoparticles depending on the wavelength and on the preferential directions.
The preparation of thin film silicon solar cells containing Ag nanoparticles is reported in this article. Ag nanoparticles were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide coated glass substrates by the evaporation and condensation method. a-Si:H solar cells were deposited on these substrates by cluster type plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. We discuss the double textured surface effect with respect to both the surface morphology of the substrate and the plasmonic effect of the Ag nanoparticles. Ag nanoparticles of various sizes from 10 to 100 nm were deposited. The haze values of the Ag embedded samples increased with increasing particle size whereas the optical transmittance decreased at the same conditions. The solar cell with the 30 nm size Ag nanoparticles showed a short circuit current density of 12.97 mA/cm 2 , which is 0.53 mA/cm 2 higher than that of the reference solar cell without Ag nanoparticles, and the highest quantum efficiency for wavelengths from 550 to 800 nm. When 30 nm size nanoparticles were employed, the conversion efficiency of the solar cell was increased from 6.195% to 6.696%. This study reports the application of the scattering effect of Ag nanoparticles for the improvement of the conversion efficiency of amorphous silicon solar cells.
Performance Improvement of Organic Solar Cells by Metallic Nanoparticles
The aim of this thesis is to investigate the utilization of plasmonic metal nanostructures for efficiency enhancement of organic solar cells. This efficiency enhancement strategy exploits the strong near-field enhancement and highly efficient light scattering that originates from localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs) excited in metal nanostructures and leads to an increased absorption in the solar cell active layer. In the first part of this thesis, the near-field enhancement is systematically studied by employing a model system of metal nanoparticles (NPs) covered by thin-films of organic molecules. Absorption and both steady-state and transient photoluminescence measurements are used to probe the interactions between the LSPRs excited in the NPs and the excitons in the organic thin-film. By introducing a transparent spacer layer, the range of these near-field plasmon-exciton interactions is determined. The absorption enhancement is found to be accompanied by a strong reduct...