Role of the Au and Ag nanoparticles on organic solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM active layer

In this article, P3HT:PCBM blend active layer was incorporated with Au and Ag nanoparticles (NPs) for different concentration to investigate the effects of the NPs on the performance organic solar cells (OSCs) with ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM:NPs/LiF/Al design. The active layer was analyzed by AFM, SEM and XRD measurements. Optical energy gap of P3HT:PCBM (undoped) and P3HT:PCBM (doped) active layers were obtained using UV-visible spectroscopy for different concentrations. The photovoltaic current density-voltage measurements were carried out under air mass (AM) 1.5G solar simulation. The OSC whose active layer undoped, gave the J(sc) of 17.09 mA/cm(2), V-oc of 0.48 V, FF of 45%, and PCE of 2.11%. Whereas, the highest values of PCE were calculated as 3.11% for doped with Au NPs (1.5 wt%) and as 3.20% for Ag NPs (0.5 wt%), respectively. In summary, Au and Ag NPs created strong local electric field enhancements and caused to a surface plasmonic effect in the active layer for some concentrations and improved the device's PCE.