Roles of Au and Ag nanoparticles in efficiency enhancement of poly(3-octylthiophene)/C60 bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices -: art. no. 203113

We obtained improved poly(3-octylthiophene) (P3OT)/C-60 bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices by doping with stable and highly electrically conductive Au and Ag nanoparticles. Doped devices showed 50-70% improved efficiency, with the Ag nanoparticles exhibiting the greatest increase in efficiency. We suggest that a dominate mechanism for the efficiency enhancement of doped photovoltaic device is the improved electrical conductivity through the introduction of dopant levels within the band gap of the P3OT. (C) 2005 American Institute of Physics.