Broadband light absorption enhancement in polymer photovoltaics using metal nanowall gratings as transparent electrodes

The authors investigate light absorption in organic solar cells in which indium tin oxide (ITO) is replaced by a new metallic architecture (grating) as a transparent electrode. Different from typical metal nanowire gratings, our gratings consist of metal nanowalls with nanoscale footprint and (sub)microscale height [Adv. Mater. 23, 2469 (2011)], thus ensuring high optical transmittance and electrical conductivity. Simulations reveal that a broadband and polarization-insensitive light absorption enhancement is achieved via two mechanisms, when such silver nanowall gratings are employed in P3HT:PCBM based solar cells. Overall absorption enhanced by ~23% compared to a reference cell with ITO electrode.