Plasmonic-enhanced polymer solar cells with high efficiency by addition of silver nanoparticles of different sizes in different layers

This article described a dual plasmonic effect on improving the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). We blended respectively silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) of different sizes into the anode buffer layer and the active layer to trigger localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), which enhanced the broadband absorption of the PSCs. We adopted double anode buffer layers to reduce the surface roughness of the composite buffer layer, which ensured the electrical properties of the PSCs. Finally, we led to the realization of a polymer solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 9.2%, accounting for a 21.7% enhancement as compared to pre-optimized control PSCs. These results suggest a new approach to achieve higher overall enhancement through the cooperative plasmonic effect aroused from dual resonance enhancement of two different nanoparticles. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd.