Plasmon enhanced polymer solar cells by spin-coating Au nanoparticles on indium-tin-oxide substrate

To enhance light absorption in polymer solar cells, the Au nanoparticles (NPs) with different sizes were incorporated to the devices by spin-coating Au colloid solution on the indium-tin-oxide substrates prior to deposition of buffer layer. It has been found that the power conversion efficiency of bulk heterojunction cells can be increased from 3.50% to 4.07% after incorporating the 60 nm Au NPs, corresponding to an improvement of 16%. The improved device performance is ascribed to the localized surface plasmon excitation of the Au NPs. The method we report herein is a kind of simple and quick solution process. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4754839]