Cooperative plasmonic effect of Ag and Au nanoparticles on enhancing performance of polymer solar cells

This article describes a cooperative plasmonic effect on improving the performance of polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells. When mixed Ag and Au nanoparticles are incorporated into the anode buffer layer, dual nanoparticles show superior behavior on enhancing light absorption in comparison with single nanoparticles, which led to the realization of a polymer solar cell with a power conversion efficiency of 8.67%, accounting for a 20% enhancement. The cooperative plasmonic effect aroused from dual resonance enhancement of two different nanoparticles. The idea was further unraveled by comparing Au nanorods with Au nanoparticles for solar cell application. Detailed studies shed light into the influence of plasmonic nanostructures on exciton generation, dissociation, and charge recombination and transport inside thin film devices.