DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2022.40492

Au Nanoparticles Effect on Inverted ZnO Nanorods/Organic Hybrid Solar Cell Performance

1VKTECH Research Center, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, 298-300A Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, Ward 13, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

2Department of Solid State Physics, University of Science, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), 227 Nguyen Van Cu, Ward 4, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam

3Faculty of Science, Dong Nai University, 4 Le Quy Don Street, Tan Hiep Ward, Bien Hoa City 76111, Viet Nam

Received: 3 Aug 2021; Revised: 18 Oct 2021; Accepted: 26 Oct 2021; Available online: 3 Nov 2021; Published: 1 Feb 2022.
Editor(s): H. Hadiyanto
Open Access Copyright (c) 2022 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract

The sun provides a plentiful and inexpensive source of carbon-neutral energy that has yet to be fully utilized. This is a major driving force behind the development of organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials and devices, which are expected to offer benefits such as low cost, flexibility, and widespread availability. For the photovoltaic performance enhancement of the inverted ZnO-nanorods (NR)/organic hybrid solar cells with poly(3-exylthiophene):(6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methylester (P3HT:PCBM) and poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) active layers, gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were introduced into the interface between indium-thin-oxide cathode layer and ZnO cathode buffer layer, and the efficiency improvement was observed. It's worth noting that adding Au NPs had both a positive and negative impact on device performance. Au NPs were shown to be advantageous to localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPs) in the coupling of dispersed light from ZnO NRs in order to extend the light's path length in the absorbing medium. Although the light absorption in the active layer could be enhanced, Au NPs might also act as recombination centers within the active layer. To avoid this adverse effect, Au NPs are covered by the ZnO seeded layer to prevent Au NPs from direct contact with the active layer. The dominant surface plasmonic effect of Au NPs increased the photoelectric conversion efficiency from 2.4% to 3.8%.

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Keywords: Organic solar cells; gold nanoparticles; localized surface Plasmon
Funding: This research was funded by the Vietnam National Foundation for Science and Technology Development (NAFOSTED) under grant number 103.02-2018.352

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Section: Original Research Article
Language : EN
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