Study of surface plasmon resonance effect on P3HT: PCBM/Au nano film

Abstract

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) plays a vital role in improving the efficiency of organic solar cells, sensitivity of biosensor and effectiveness of spectroscopy. SPR characteristics depend on the thickness of coated metallic film, sensing medium and also refractive index of the material of prism used. Due to cost effectiveness and easy preparation method, the organic solar cells paid considerable interest among the many researchers. In present paper, we have theoretically study the variation of thickness of P3HT-PCBM: Au composite film on the reflectance of medium because the poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) used as a most efficient organic cell. He-Ne Laser wavelength of 632.8 nm used for Kretschmann-Raether experimental setup for theoretical investigation.The reflectance becomes zero at 15 nm thickness of P3HT-PCBM film and 48 nm thickness of nano gold film. The result shows strong dependence of reflectance on thickness of P3HT-PCBM: Au Solar cell. The localized surface plasmon resonance in nanostructure gold film is responsible for this unusual effect. Gold is utilized as the metal layer in most cases because it is highly chemically stable, inert in nature and higher sensing resolution at visible wavelength range as compared to other metals.