Abstract
In this paper, the light absorption in the active layer of polymer solar cells (OPV) by using plasmonic nanocrystals with a hexagonal lattice structure is investigated. To study the relationship between the performance of the OPV solar cell and its active layer, a three-dimensional model of its morphology is utilized. Therefore, the three-dimensional (3D) finite-difference time-domain method and Lumerical 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, and 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 highest increase in optical absorption. The strong alternating electromagnetic field around the core–shell plasmonic nanoparticles resulting from the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) suggested by the Ag plasmonic nanocrystals increased the intrinsic optical absorption in the active layer poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM). Based on the photovoltaic results, the short circuit current ranged from 19.7 to 26.7 mA/cm2.
Highlights
In the last decade, organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) have been attracted great attention, due to their promising potential for the next-generation solar cells because they are lightweight, flexible and low-cost, semi-transparency, solution process ability and large surface area [1]
The metallic nanoparticles embedded on the OPV solar cell in three dimensions are simulated using Lurmical Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) and their plasmonic effect analyzed as the model configuration is shown in Fig. 3 a and b
Light absorption enhancement by an Ag plasmonic nanocrystals hexagonal array embedded inside the poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT): PCBM active layer at the bottom of the OPV solar cell was analyzed
Summary
Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) have been attracted great attention, due to their promising potential for the next-generation solar cells because they are lightweight, flexible and low-cost, semi-transparency, solution process ability and large surface area [1]. Several light trapping and photon management methods have been suggested to improve the performance of OPV solar cells, to improve the collection efficiency of incident light inside thin-films such as antireflection coating [3,4], photonic crystals [5,6], plasmonic excitation using metallic nanoparticles [7], optimization of the electromagnetic field distribution and periodic metallic grating [1,8,9] which are traditionally based on geometrical optics The efficiency of these polymer cells is low compared to other cells [1], and this is a significant barrier to widespread commercialization of them. Even though much photon energy is lost, because of the poor absorption of the incident light [11], numerous researches have been done to further light absorption in the OPVs
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