Surface plasmon excitation in semitransparent inverted polymer photovoltaic devices and their applications as label-free optical sensors

Abstract

Herein, we report on surface plasmon (SP)-sensitive semitransparent inverted polymer photovoltaic (PV) devices that are based on multilayered material systems consisting of poly(3-hexylthiophene): fullerene-derivative bulk-heterojunction PV layers and thin gold or silver anodes. We demonstrate that these PV devices allow the simultaneous generation of both electrical power and SPs on their anodes for photoexcitation just above the optical absorption edge of the PV layers, resulting not only in attenuated total reflection, but also in attenuated photocurrent generation (APG) under the SP resonance (SPR) condition. Moreover, we also confirm that the biomolecular interaction of biotin-streptavidin on the PV devices can be precisely detected via apparent SPR angle shifts in the APG spectra, even without the need for complex attenuated total reflection configurations. We highlight our view that APG measurements made using these PV devices show great potential for the development of future generations of compact and highly sensitive SPR-based optical sensors.

Broadband Optical Absorption Caused by the Plasmonic Response of Coalesced Au Nanoparticles Embedded in a TiO2 Matrix

“…[35][36][37][38][39][40][41] More recently, the knowledge acquired about plasmonic materials is being studied for the development of chemical and biological (LSPR) sensors. [42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51] .…”

Employing inorganic/organic hybrid interface layer to improve electron transfer for inverted polymer solar cells

“…An effective method to reduce exciton recombination and improve injection efficiency is to employ the proper electrodes with matched work functions. Therefore, inorganic buffer layers including TiO x , MoO x , and ZnO between the active layer and cathode have been used to reduce carrier accumulation on the electrode in past few years [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Ideally, PSCs should have balanced charge transfer and collection to ensure high charge extraction capacity of electrodes, which requires a good interface contact between various layers.…”

Recent process of plasma effect in organic solar cells

“…From the optical point of view, the improvement of device performance is predominantly attributed to enhanced light absorption by light scattering effect or LSPR [70][71][72]. Light scattering induced by metallic nanostructures blended in OSCs leads to improved external quantum efficiency (EQE), and it is also a prerequisite for the enhancement of J sc .…”