International Journal of Physics | Vol. 4, No. 6, June 2013 | pp. 41–48
DOI: 10.46882/2013/IJP/000038
Research Article
Title: Quantum Efficiency Enhancement in Organic Photovoltaic Cells via Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles
Names of Authors: A. M. Fernandes¹, H. K. Gupta²
Authors’ Affiliations: ¹Department of Physics, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil; ²Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai 400076, India
Abstract: Low light absorption coefficients within thin active layers limit the conversion efficiency of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. This study implements a method to enhance the internal quantum efficiency of bulk-heterojunction OPV cells by incorporating synthesized silver nanoparticles into the buffer layer. The solar cells were fabricated with a standard architecture consisting of indium tin oxide, a hole transport layer, and a blend active layer. We systematically adjusted the diameter of the silver nanoparticles from 20.0 nm to 60.0 nm to tune the localized surface plasmon resonance wavelength. Experimental UV-vis absorption spectra show a significant 35.0% increase in optical absorption within the 450.0 nm to 550.0 nm band when 40.0 nm nanoparticles are introduced. Under simulated solar illumination (AM 1.5G, 100.0 mW/cm²), the optimized plasmonic OPV device yielded a short-circuit current density of 11.42 mA/cm² and an open-circuit voltage of 0.62 V. This resulted in a maximum power conversion efficiency of 5.12%, representing a 28.0% improvement over the control cell. Finite-difference time-domain simulations confirm that the performance boost stems from strong near-field electromagnetic field enhancement and forward scattering. These results show that integrating plasmonic nanostructures is an effective approach for developing high-efficiency, thin-film organic solar cells.
Keywords: Organic photovoltaics; silver nanoparticles; localized surface plasmon resonance; light harvesting; power conversion efficiency; finite-difference time-domain
Manuscript Timeline: Received: March 02, 2013; Revised: April 14, 2013; Accepted: May 02, 2013; Published: June 12, 2013
Citation: Fernandes, A. M., & Gupta, H. K. (2013). Quantum Efficiency Enhancement in Organic Photovoltaic Cells via Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles. International Journal of Physics, 4(6), 41–48.
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