Aluminum nanoparticles for efficient and stable organic photovoltaics

Enhancement of both the efficiency and stability of bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices is demonstrated by the addition of highly stable Al NPs, generated via laser ablation, into the photoactive layer. An efficiency enhancement of 30% is demonstrated, which can be attributed to multiple scattering effects and enhanced structural stability of the photoactive blend. Surprisingly, the devices with Al NPs die after similar to 150 h of operation under continuous illumination, compared with the pristine devices which die after similar to 30 h.