Surface Plasmonic Effects on Organic Solar Cells

Most high-performance organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices reported in the literature have been fabricated using the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) concept. Typically, the optimum thickness of the active layer for an OPV device is around 100 nm, or possibly less; such a thin layer can lead to low absorption of light. A thicker layer, however, inevitably increases the device resistance, due to the low carrier mobilities and short exciton diffusion lengths in organic materials. This situation imposes a trade-off between light absorption and charge transport efficiencies in OPV devices, motivating the development of a variety of light-trapping techniques. Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) such as Ag, Au, etc. and other metallic nanostructures are potential candidates for improving the light absorption due to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). LSPR contributes to the significant enhancement of local electromagnetic fields and improves the optical properties of the nanostructure devices. The excitation of LSPR is achieved when the frequency of the incident light matches its resonance peak, resulting in unique optical properties; selective light extinction as well as local enhancement of electromagnetic fields near the surface of metallic NPs. The resonance peak of LSPR depends strongly on the size, shape, and the dielectric environment of the metallic NPs. In this review article, progress on plasmonic enhanced OPV device performance is examined. The concepts of surface plasmonics for OPV devices, suitable plasmonic materials, location, optimum size and concentration of NP materials within the device are explored.