Abstract
A cost-effective approach to enhancing broadband light trapping in ultrathin bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices is proposed. This is achieved by simply inserting an array of Al nanodisks at the interface of the ITO anode and the organic active layer; forming circular plasmonic nanopatch cavities (between the nanodisks and the Al cathode) that sandwich the active layer. Through interactions between the surface plasmon polaritons localized at the nanodisk and the cathode, a tunable broadband resonance peak spanning 450–700 nm in the scattering cross-section spectrum is formed, thereby enhancing the electromagnetic field in the active layer. Compared to an OPV device with a 60-nm-thick PCPDTBT/PC60BM layer, our numerical simulations reveal that integrated absorption enhancements of up to 40 % can be achieved in an equivalent device integrated with an array of nanodisks with a diameter of 100 nm and a periodicity of 250 nm. From the analysis of the structure–performance relationships, implications for the design of these nanopatch cavities for light harvesting in ultrathin OPV devices are discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Park SH, Roy A, Beaupre S, Cho S, Coates N, Moon JS, Moses D, Leclerc M, Lee K, Heeger AJ (2009) Bulk heterojunction solar cells with internal quantum efficiency approaching 100 %. Nat Photon 3(5):297–302, http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v3/n5/suppinfo/nphoton.2009.69_S1.html
Liang Y, Xu Z, Xia J, Tsai S-T, Wu Y, Li G, Ray C, Yu L (2010) For the bright future—bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells with power conversion efficiency of 7.4 %. Adv Mater 22(20):E135–E138. doi:10.1002/adma.200903528
Tumbleston JR (2009) Electrophotonic enhancement of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells through photonic crystal photoactive layer. Appl Phys Lett 94(4):043305
Tumbleston JR, Ko D-H, Samulski ET, Lopez R (2009) Absorption and quasiguided mode analysis of organic solar cells with photonic crystal photoactive layers. Opt Express 17(9):7670–7681
Ko D-H, Tumbleston JR, Zhang L, Williams S, DeSimone JM, Lopez R, Samulski ET (2009) Photonic crystal geometry for organic solar cells. Nano Lett 9(7):2742–2746. doi:10.1021/nl901232p
Agrawal M, Peumans P (2008) Broadband optical absorption enhancement through coherent light trapping in thin-film photovoltaic cells. Opt Express 16(8):5385–5396
Tvingstedt K, Dal Zilio S, Inganäs O, Tormen M (2008) Trapping light with micro lenses in thin film organic photovoltaic cells. Opt Express 16(26):21608–21615
Gjessing J, Marstein ES, Sudbø A (2010) 2D back-side diffraction grating for improved light trapping in thin silicon solar cells. Opt Express 18(6):5481–5495
Niggemann M, Riede M, Gombert A, Leo K (2008) Light trapping in organic solar cells. Phys Status Solidi (a) 205(12):2862–2874. doi:10.1002/pssa.200880461
Gombert A (2004) Some application cases and related manufacturing techniques for optically functional microstructures on large areas. Opt Eng 43(11):2525
Kulkarni AP, Noone KM, Munechika K, Guyer SR, Ginger DS (2010) Plasmon-enhanced charge carrier generation in organic photovoltaic films using silver nanoprisms. Nano Lett 10(4):1501–1505. doi:10.1021/nl100615e
Diukman I, Tzabari L, Berkovitch N, Tessler N, Orenstein M (2011) Controlling absorption enhancement in organic photovoltaic cells by patterning Au nano disks within the active layer. Opt Express 19(S1):A64–A71
Atwater HA, Polman A (2010) Plasmonics for improved photovoltaic devices. Nat Mater 9(3):205–213
Kim C-H, Cha S-H, Kim SC, Song M, Lee J, Shin WS, Moon S-J, Bahng JH, Kotov NA, Jin S-H (2011) Silver nanowire embedded in P3HT:PCBM for high-efficiency hybrid photovoltaic device applications. ACS Nano 5(4):3319–3325. doi:10.1021/nn200469d
Xue M (2011) Charge-carrier dynamics in hybrid plasmonic organic solar cells with Ag nanoparticles. Appl Phys Lett 98(25):253302
Beck FJ (2009) Tunable light trapping for solar cells using localized surface plasmons. J Appl Phys 105(11):114310
Ferry VE, Verschuuren MA, Li HBT, Verhagen E, Walters RJ, Schropp REI, Atwater HA, Polman A (2010) Light trapping in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells. Opt Express 18(S2):A237–A245
Tsai S-J, Ballarotto M, Romero DB, Herman WN, Kan H-C, Phaneuf RJ (2010) Effect of gold nanopillar arrays on the absorption spectrum of a bulk heterojunction organic solar cell. Opt Express 18(S4):A528–A535
Kim K (2005) Roles of Au and Ag nanoparticles in efficiency enhancement of poly(3-octylthiophene)/C60 bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices. Appl Phys Lett 87(20):203113
Topp K, Borchert H, Johnen F, Tunc AV, Knipper M, von Hauff E, Parisi J, Al-Shamery K (2009) Impact of the incorporation of Au nanoparticles into polymer/fullerene solar cells†. J Phys Chem A 114(11):3981–3989. doi:10.1021/jp910227x
Kochergin V (2011) Aluminum plasmonic nanostructures for improved absorption in organic photovoltaic devices. Appl Phys Lett 98(13):133305
Akimov Y, Koh W (2011) Design of plasmonic nanoparticles for efficient subwavelength light trapping in thin-film solar cells. Plasmonics 6(1):155–161. doi:10.1007/s11468-010-9181-4
Zhu X, Zhang J, Xu J, Yu D (2011) Vertical plasmonic resonant nanocavities. Nano Lett 11(3):1117–1121. doi:10.1021/nl104024j
Ameling R (2010) Cavity-enhanced localized plasmon resonance sensing. Appl Phys Lett 97(25):253116
Manolatou CR, Rana F (2008) Subwavelength nanopatch cavities for semiconductor plasmon lasers. IEEE J Quantum Electron 44(5):435–447. doi:10.1109/JQE.2008.916707
Amit ML et al (2011) Lasing in subwavelength semiconductor nanopatches. Semicond Sci Technol 26(1):014013
Catchpole KR (2008) Design principles for particle plasmon enhanced solar cells. Appl Phys Lett 93(19):191113
Kuttge M, García de Abajo FJ, Polman A (2009) Ultrasmall mode volume plasmonic nanodisk resonators. Nano Lett 10(5):1537–1541. doi:10.1021/nl902546r
Balanis CA (2005) Antenna theory—analysis and design, 3rd edn. Wiley, New York
Sandu T, Vrinceanu D, Gheorghiu E (2011) Surface plasmon resonances of clustered nanoparticles. Plasmonics 6(2):407–412. doi:10.1007/s11468-011-9218-3
Hägglund C (2008) Electromagnetic coupling of light into a silicon solar cell by nanodisk plasmons. Appl Phys Lett 92(5):053110
Beck FJ, Verhagen E, Mokkapati S, Polman A, Catchpole KR (2011) Resonant SPP modes supported by discrete metal nanoparticles on high-index substrates. Opt Express 19(S2):A146–A156
Prodan E, Radloff C, Halas NJ, Nordlander P (2003) A hybridization model for the plasmon response of complex nanostructures. Science 302(5644):419–422. doi:10.1126/science.1089171
Vermon KC, Funston AM, Novo C, Gómez DE, Mulvaney P, Davis TJ (2010) Influence of particle–substrate interaction on localized plasmon resonances. Nano Lett 10(6):2080–2086. doi:10.1021/nl100423z
Hoppe H, Sariciftci NS, Meissner D (2002) Optical constants of conjugated polymer/fullerene based bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst 385(1):113–119. doi:10.1080/713738799
Monestier F, Simon J-J, Torchio P, Escoubas L, Flory F, Bailly S, de Bettignies R, Guillerez S, Defranoux C (2007) Modeling the short-circuit current density of polymer solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM blend. Sol Energy Mater Sol Cells 91(5):405–410. doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2006.10.019
Dennler G (2007) Design of efficient organic tandem cells: on the interplay between molecular absorption and layer sequence. J Appl Phys 102(12):123109
Acknowledgments
The work is supported by the Singapore National Research Foundation through the Competitive Research Programme under Project No. NRF-CRP5-2009-04 (X. Liu and T. C. Sum). T. C. Sum acknowledges the financial support from the Nanyang Technological University start-up grant (M58110068) and from the Ministry of Education (MOE) Academic Research Fund (AcRF) Tier 1 grant – RG 49/08 (M52110082).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wu, B., Liu, X., Oo, T.Z. et al. Resonant Aluminum Nanodisk Array for Enhanced Tunable Broadband Light Trapping in Ultrathin Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Devices. Plasmonics 7, 677–684 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9358-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-012-9358-0