Plasmonically Engineered Textile Polymer Solar Cells for High-Performance, Wearable Photovoltaics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Renewable Energy

Background:

• Wearable polymer solar cells (PSCs) face challenges with textile substrates due to optical opacity and surface irregularities.
• Conventional organic photovoltaics are not well-suited for integration with flexible, permeable woven fabrics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the performance of wearable PSCs by integrating plasmonic nanostructures onto a textile platform.
• To overcome the incompatibility of textiles with organic photovoltaics through substrate modification and nanostructure engineering.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of inverted, top-illuminated PSCs on a conformable fabric substrate with planarizing/encapsulating multilayers.
• Implantation of disordered elliptical hemisphere nanostructures at the bottom silver electrode using silica nanoparticles.
• Optimization of dielectric/metal/dielectric multilayers for the transparent top electrode.

Main Results:

• Achieved a power conversion efficiency of ~8.71% in the plasmonic device.
• Demonstrated a net efficiency improvement of ~1.46% compared to planar devices.
• Nanostructured electrode enhanced light trapping via surface plasmon resonance and reduced Ohmic loss.

Conclusions:

• Plasmonic nanostructures significantly improve textile-based PSC performance.
• Quantitative understanding of physics through experimental and numerical studies provides guidelines for future wearable photovoltaics.
• This approach enables high-performance, practical wearable solar energy harvesting on diverse textile platforms.