Light Absorption Enhancement in Organic Solar Cell by Embedding Ag Nanoparticles and Nanochains within the Active Layer

Abstract EN

We numerically investigate the light absorption enhancement of organic photovoltaic cells by embedding Ag nanoparticles and nanochains within the active layer using a finite element method.

We analyze the enhancement mechanism of light absorption and systematically study the influence of factors such as the size and the period of silver nanoparticles.

The result shows the localized surface plasmon resonance of the particles has a significant influence on the light absorption.

Under AM1.5 illumination condition, a relative enhancement with a factor of 107.1% is observed for nanoparticles with a diameter of 30 nm and a period of 200 nm.

In addition, different types of nanochain structures have been studied, and we find that, comparing to monodisperse nanoparticles, nanochain structures can further enhance the light absorption because of the stronger light harvesting in the long wavelength range of 600–800 nm.