Charge-carrier dynamics in hybrid plasmonic organic solar cells with Ag nanoparticles

Xue, Mei; Li, Lü; Villers, Bertrand J. Tremolet de; Shen, Huajun; Zhu, Jinfeng; Yu, Zhibin; Stieg, Adam Z.; Pei, Qibing; Schwartz, Benjamin J.; Wang, Kang L.

doi:10.1063/1.3601742

Cited by 140 publications

(140 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Nonetheless, all these issues may be resolvable through a prudent choice of the constituents and careful optimization of the device. From the analysis of our experimental results and careful comparison with the literature reports [8][9][10][11][12][13] , we can identify several key factors/ considerations for the design of hybrid plasmonic OSCs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As concluded from charge dynamic measurements, the existence of these foreign entities introduces traps either through the ligands or the NPs. Although optical enhancement is achieved, these NPs can detrimentally affect the exciton 4,6,12 , and polaron lifetimes 13 . Thus, as a practical compromise, the plasmonic absorbers would have to be embedded in the charge transport layers (that is, PEDOT:PSS, ZnO, TiO 2 , and so on), as close as possible to the photoactive layers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They should enable uniform dispersion within the embedding layer, eliminating aggregation of the NPs and disruption of the OSC morphology 12,13,38 . When embedding the NPs within the active layer, too thin an outer ligand/shell may result in losses via charge/energy transfer between organic materials and the metallic nanostructure 12 .…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the latter approach, NPs coated with organic ligands are typically used to disperse the particles within the organic blends. Despite its simplicity, the findings from this approach are highly controversial as both enhancement [8][9][10][11] and detraction 12,13 in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices performance have been reported. Physical insight into the fundamental photophysics and charge dynamics in these NP-blended plasmonic OPV cells is urgently required.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Uncovering loss mechanisms in silver nanoparticle-blended plasmonic organic solar cells

et al. 2013

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There has been much controversy over the incorporation of organic-ligand-encapsulated plasmonic nanoparticles in the active layer of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, where both enhancement and detraction in performance have been reported. Here through comprehensive transient optical spectroscopy and electrical characterization, we demonstrate evidence of traps responsible for performance degradation in plasmonic organic solar cells fabricated with oleylamine-capped silver nanoparticles blended in the poly (3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C 61-butyric acid methyl ester active layer. Despite an initial increase in exciton generation promoted by the presence of silver nanoparticles, transient absorption spectroscopy reveals no increase in the later free polaron population-attributed to fast trapping of polarons by nearby nanoparticles. The increased trap-assisted recombination is also reconfirmed by light intensity-dependent electrical measurements. These new insights into the photophysics and charge dynamics of plasmonic organic solar cells would resolve the existing controversy and provide clear guidelines for device design and fabrication.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Uncovering loss mechanisms in silver nanoparticle-blended plasmonic organic solar cells

et al. 2013

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“…As discussed in a recent review [10], the light trapping techniques for thin film organic solar cells include the cells with V-shaped (folded) geometry, incoupler at the front surface, structured back reflector and substrates. In addition, in recent years, there has been intense interest in applying the plasmonic properties of metallic nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance the performance of PSCs by doping these NPs directly into the active layer [11][12][13][14]. Typically, most existing plasmonic materials for improved light absorption in PSCs are focused on the spherical NPs with a diameter less than 50 nm [15][16][17][18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of gold-silica nanoparticles on the performance of small-molecule bulk heterojunction solar cells

Kyaw

Peng

et al. 2015

Organic Electronics

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a b s t r a c tLight trapping by gold (Au)-silica nanospheres and nanorods embedded in the active layer of small-molecule (SM) organic solar cell has been systematically compared. Nanorod significantly outperforms nanosphere because of more light scattering and higher quality factor for localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) triggered by nanorods. The optimum concentration of nanorod was characterized by charge carrier transport and morphology of the active layers. At optimum nanorod concentration, almost no change in the morphology of the active layer reveals that LSPR and scattering effects rather than the morphology are mainly responsible for the enhanced power conversion efficiency. In addition, the preliminary lifetime studies of the SM solar cells with and without Au-silica nanorods were conducted by measuring the current density-voltage characteristics over 20 days. The results show that plasmonic device with nanorods has no adverse impact on the device stability.

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Large AuAg Alloy Nanoparticles Synthesized in Organic Media Using a One‐Pot Reaction: Their Applications for High‐Performance Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Chen

Chou

Tseng

et al. 2012

Adv Funct Materials

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bulk heterojunction (BHJ) confi guration has been attracting considerable interest due to their low-cost fabrication, mechanical fl exibility and potential to provide effi cient conversion of solar energy. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] There are a number of challenges on the way to achieve high power conversion effi ciency (PCE) of solar cells. These include the development of low bandgap conjugated polymers with respect to broad light absorption and effi cient charge separation/transportation via controlling the nanostructure of active layer. As a result, several highly effi cient polymers have been reported with high PCE surpassing than 7% to date. [7][8][9] Considering the power conversion processes, including solar light absorption, exciton generation, exciton dissociation, and charge carriers transport, all occur in the active layers. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] Therefore, gaining insight into the nanostructure of the active layer and the corresponding morphology, [22][23][24][25] as well as the photovoltaic mechanism, [17][18][19][20][21] is benefi cial to meliorate the PCE of the resulting BHJ solar cells. It is well known that reducing recombination is a linchpin of increasing device effi ciency. [ 22 ] Therefore, decreasing the thickness of the active layer and maximizing its absorption capability to reduce the device resistance and the probability of charge recombination play key roles to improve the device's PCE. From this viewpoint, a remarkable amount of work has been devoted to utilizing metal nanoparticles (NPs) strategies that result from their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) for effi cient light trapping in the active layer in an aim to enhance photon absorption without the need for a thick fi lm. [26][27][28] To date, most studies are focused on single-composition of gold, silver, and copper NPs, which are almost exclusively suspended in aqueous solution. [28][29][30] In comparison, much less systematic experimental study of alloying metal NPs has been performed in photo voltaic performance so far. [ 31 ] More importantly, conjugated polymers are soluble primarily in organic solvents, which are incompatible with aqueous media. This limits the use of these metal NPs in organic photovoltaic devices. Although many of the device geometries have been reported to directly introduce various species of aqueous phase metal NPs in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) A one-pot synthesis of large size and high quality AuAg alloy nanoparticles (NPs) with well controlled compositions via hot organic media is demonstrated. Amid the synthesis, complexation between trioctylphosphine (TOP) and metal precursors is found, which slows down the rate of nucleation and leads to the growth of large-size AuAg nanoalloys. The wavelength and relative intensities of the resulting plasmon bands are readily fi ne-tuned during the synthetic process using different Au/Ag precursors molar ratios. In the polymer solar cells, a key step in achieving high effi ciency...

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Charge-carrier dynamics in hybrid plasmonic organic solar cells with Ag nanoparticles

Cited by 140 publications

References 18 publications

Uncovering loss mechanisms in silver nanoparticle-blended plasmonic organic solar cells

Uncovering loss mechanisms in silver nanoparticle-blended plasmonic organic solar cells

Influence of gold-silica nanoparticles on the performance of small-molecule bulk heterojunction solar cells

Large AuAg Alloy Nanoparticles Synthesized in Organic Media Using a One‐Pot Reaction: Their Applications for High‐Performance Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

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