Effects of silver nanoparticles with different sizes on photochemical responses of polythiophene-fullerene thin films

Effects of size and coverage density of silver nanoparticles (AgPs) on the fluorescence emission and fluorescence lifetime of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) thin films were investigated. AgPs of 64 nm diameter showed greater effects on the fluorescence decay process of P3HT films as compared with 7 nm AgPs. The fluorescence lifetime (FL) of P3HT decreased from 0.61 to 0.22 ns in the presence of 64 nm AgPs, while no appreciable change (0.60 ns) was seen in the case of 7 nm AgPs. The results suggest that the 64 nm AgPs showed a greater effect on the enhancement of the decay rate of excited P3HT. The photoelectric conversion of thin films consisting of P3HT and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) was also investigated. AgPs of 7 or 64 nm diameters were first deposited on indium-tin-oxide substrates with controlled surface coverage densities from ~1 to 40%. When the coverage densities of deposited AgPs were ~20% for both 7 and 64 nm, the enhancement of photoelectric conversion efficiency reached maximum. The degree of enhancement in the case of 64 nm AgPs was larger than in the case of 7 nm AgPs.