Optoelectronic Performances of Au and CuO Nanoparticles Incorporated P3HT/PCBM Based Organic Photovoltaic Devices

Direct conversion of sun energy to electrical energy using nanostructured organic/inorganic hybrid semiconductors is one of the best solutions for today’s energy crisis. In particular, researchers are turning their attention to incorporation of metal or transition metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) into the active layer of polymer solar cells (PSCs). The design approaches for incorporation of metal NPs is based on localized plasmonic resonance effect (LSPR) which can be used to enhance the optical absorption in photovoltaic devices. Meanwhile, the transition metal oxide NPs such as Cuprous oxide (CuO) NPs in the active layer play a key role as light harvesting centers, charge particle hopping centers and surface morphology developers enabling a considerable reduction in the physical thickness of photovoltaic absorber layers. In this study, to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the polymer solar cells (PSCs), Au NPs and CuO NPs are incorporated into P3HT/PCBM active layer. Addition of Au and CuO NPs increased the power conversion efficiency by up to 48.7% compared to a reference cell without Au or CuO-NPs. The short circuit current(Jsc) of the cells containing 0.05 mg of Au and CuO NPs was measured at 7.218 mA/cm2 compared to 5.338 mA/cm2 in the reference cells without nanoparticles; meanwhile, the external quantum efficiency(EQE) increased from 45% to 68.5%, showing an enhancement of 52.2%. Au and CuO-NPs improved the charge collection at the anode, which results in higher short circuit current and fill factor.