Abstract:
Plasmonic effects allow us to significantly improve the optical absorption of thinfilm
OSCs [1] and promote emerging solar cell technology meeting clean energy demands. So
far, plasmonic nanostructures can offer three principles to enhance the optical absorption of
OSCs. The first one is surface plasmon resonance by metallic gratings fabricated on the top
or bottom of the active layer [2,3]. The second one is local plasmon resonance by metallic
nanoparticles incorporated into or near the active layer [4,5]. The third one is plasmon
coupling and hybridization, such as surface plasmon resonance coupled with local plasmon
resonance or plasmon resonance coupled with photonic resonance [6,7].Our work aims to
improve efficiency by increasing the absorption inside an organic material. We do so by
incorporating metallic nanoparticles inside the absorbing layer, thus generating surface
plasmon (SP). This effect leads to a strong increase in the electromagnetic field around
metallic particles, which makes it possible to improve absorption in the surrounding
medium. It is known that the resonance frequency varies according to the form and the
diameter of the nanoparticles (NPs), the period of the considered grating, the material
composing the nanoparticles and the optical constants of the surrounding medium [8]. Gold
and silver nanoparticles placed in air have their resonance frequencies in the visible spectra.
Here, we used silver nanoparticles. The inclusion of these nanoparticles also enables light to
be scattered, which is especially useful in the active layer. In this paper, a detailed threedimensional
(3D) numerical study of the absorption in an organic active layer poly [2-
methoxy-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenyl_ene–vinyl_ene]: 6,6-phenyl C61-butyric acid
methyl ester (MEH-PPV:PCBM) bulk heterojunction containing metallic NPs bulk
heterojunction is performed via a numerical analysis based on the Finite Difference Time
Domain (FDTD) rigorous method
