Optical absorption enhancement by inserting ZnO optical spacer in plasmonic organic solar cells

Kekeli N’Konou; Philippe Torchio

doi:10.1117/1.JNP.12.012502

14 June 2017 Optical absorption enhancement by inserting ZnO optical spacer in plasmonic organic solar cells

Kekeli N’Konou, Philippe Torchio

Author Affiliations +

Journal of Nanophotonics, Vol. 12, Issue 1, 012502 (June 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.12.012502

Abstract

Optical absorption enhancement (AE) using coupled optical spacer and plasmonic effects in standard and inverted organic solar cells (OSCs) are demonstrated using the finite-difference time-domain numerical method. The influence of an added zinc oxide (ZnO) optical spacer layer inserted below the active layer in standard architecture is first theoretically investigated while the influence of varying the ZnO cathodic buffer layer thickness in inverted design is studied on AE. Then, the embedding of a square periodic array of core–shell silver–silica nanospheres (Ag@SiO2 NSs) at different positions in standard and inverted OSCs is performed while AE and short-circuit current density (Jsc) are calculated. As a result of previous combined effects, the optimized standard plasmonic OSCs present 15% and 79.45% enhancement in Jsc over the reference with and without ZnO optical spacer layer, respectively, and a 16% increase of AE when Ag@SiO2 NSs are placed on top of the PEDOT:PSS layer. Compared to the inverted OSC reference, the plasmonic OSCs present 26% and 27% enhancement in Jsc and AE, respectively, when the Ag@SiO2 NSs are located on top of the ZnO layer. Furthermore, the spatial position of these NSs in such OSCs is a key parameter for increasing light absorption via enhanced electromagnetic field distribution.

Citation Download Citation

Kekeli N’Konou and Philippe Torchio "Optical absorption enhancement by inserting ZnO optical spacer in plasmonic organic solar cells," Journal of Nanophotonics 12(1), 012502 (14 June 2017). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JNP.12.012502

Received: 30 March 2017; Accepted: 23 May 2017; Published: 14 June 2017

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