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Surface plasmonic effect and scattering effect of Au nanorods on the performance of polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells

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Abstract

The surface plasmonic effect and scattering effect of gold nanorods (AuNRs) on the performance of bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices based on the blend of polythiophene and fullerene are investigated. AuNRs enhance the excitation since the plasmonic effect increases the electric field, mainly in the area near the interface between the active layer and AuNRs. The results show that the incident photo-to-electron conversion efficiency (IPCE) obviously increases for the device with a layer of gold nanorods, resulting from the plasmonic effect of AuNRs in the range of 500–670 nm and the scattering effect in the range of 370–410 nm. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) is increased by 7.6% due to the near field effect of the localized surface plasmons (LSP) of AuNRs and the scattering effect. The short circuit current density is also increased by 9.1% owing to the introduction of AuNRs. However, AuNRs can cause a little deterioration in open circuit voltage.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Luminescence and Optical Information, Ministry of Education, Institute of Optoelectronic Technology, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China

    Yi Fang, YanBing Hou, ZhiDong Lou, Feng Teng, AiWei Tang & YuFeng Hu

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  1. Yi Fang
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  2. YanBing Hou
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  3. ZhiDong Lou
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  4. Feng Teng
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  5. AiWei Tang
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  6. YuFeng Hu
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Correspondence to YanBing Hou.

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Fang, Y., Hou, Y., Lou, Z. et al. Surface plasmonic effect and scattering effect of Au nanorods on the performance of polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 56, 1865–1869 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-013-5263-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-013-5263-9

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