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Enhanced performance of polymer solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM via incorporating Au nanoparticles prepared by the micellar method

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Abstract

Surface plasmonic effect of metal nanoparticles is an effective method to improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solar cells. In this work, the PCE of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells was improved by Au nanoparticles (NPs). The Au NPs were embedded into PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer by spin coating on the ITO substrates. The Au NPs with a diameter of ~16 nm were prepared by the micellar method using polystyrene-block-poly (2-vinylpyridine) diblock polymer. The Au NPs prepared by this method are distributed uniformly in size and without agglomeration on the substrates. From both experimental and theoretical results, it can be seen that the light absorption of the active layer was increased because of the surface plasmonic effect of Au NPs. Meanwhile, the carrier transport performance of PEDOT:PSS was enhanced with introduced Au NPs. As a result, the PCE of BHJ solar cells was improved from 2.81 to 3.25% by incorporating Au NPs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (CN) [Grant No. 4192016].

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  1. College of Applied Science, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, People’s Republic of China

    Hongli Gao, Junhua Meng, Junjie Sun & Jinxiang Deng

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Gao, H., Meng, J., Sun, J. et al. Enhanced performance of polymer solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM via incorporating Au nanoparticles prepared by the micellar method. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 10760–10767 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03626-x

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