Near-field enhanced performance of organic photovoltaic cells

Metal nano-particles (NPs) have been successfully synthesized by the reduction of Ag@Cu2O with the aid of surfactant PVP and excessive reducer ascorbic acid in ambient conditions. The composition and structures of the NPs were characterized by scanning and tunnelling microscopies (SEM and TEM). The synthesized nano-particles were employed as solar absorber in thin film organic photovoltaic (OPV) with the view to exploit the effect of local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of the metals. As a consequence, substantial improvement on the major solar cell parameters were measured by the incorporation of Ag@Cu NPs in the P3HT:PCBM based photo-active medium. The power conversion efficiency of the solar cell increased by 103% compared to those devices fabricated without metal nano-particles. The observed balanced charge transport, in the current experiment, is attributed to presence of metal nano-particles in OPV devices which are responsible for near field enhanced photons scattering in the medium.