Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders

Plasmonic nanostructures have a great potential for enhancing light absorption of organic solar cells (OSCs). Our previous work has demonstrated that light absorption for OSCs with thin active layer can be significantly increased with a 1-D short-pitched metal grating, but the absorption enhancement...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wenyan Wang, Ye Zhang, Ming Chen, Yuying Hao, Ting Ji, Furong Zhu, Yanxia Cui
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2016-01-01
Series:IEEE Photonics Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7580616/
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849417073966448640
author Wenyan Wang
Ye Zhang
Ming Chen
Yuying Hao
Ting Ji
Furong Zhu
Yanxia Cui
author_facet Wenyan Wang
Ye Zhang
Ming Chen
Yuying Hao
Ting Ji
Furong Zhu
Yanxia Cui
author_sort Wenyan Wang
collection DOAJ
description Plasmonic nanostructures have a great potential for enhancing light absorption of organic solar cells (OSCs). Our previous work has demonstrated that light absorption for OSCs with thin active layer can be significantly increased with a 1-D short-pitched metal grating, but the absorption enhancement is sensitive to the polarization of light and vanishes when the active layer is thicker than 60 nm. In this work, we extend the grating into 2-D space, specifically, with metallic nanocylinders packed in a hexagonal array embossed at the silver cathode. Numerical calculations indicate that the proposed OSC not only possesses polarization insensitivity but outperforms the corresponding equivalent planar device as well when the thickness of the active layer changes over a wide range from 40 to 120 nm. The absorption enhancement factor increases with the decrease of the active layer thickness, reaching 81.5% when the active layer is 40-nm thick. The evident enhancement in absorption is mainly due to the excitation of the strong dipole-like surface plasmon resonance, as well as their mutual coupling between neighboring nanocylinders. The present work could provide a promising route for the development of high-efficiency OSCs.
format Article
id doaj-art-de39f6918fd1467080f7ade1f25bf8aa
institution Kabale University
issn 1943-0655
language English
publishDate 2016-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Photonics Journal
spelling doaj-art-de39f6918fd1467080f7ade1f25bf8aa2025-08-20T03:32:57ZengIEEEIEEE Photonics Journal1943-06552016-01-01851910.1109/JPHOT.2016.26146017580616Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic NanocylindersWenyan Wang0Ye Zhang1Ming Chen2Yuying Hao3Ting Ji4Furong Zhu5Yanxia Cui6Key Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaKey Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaKey Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaKey Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaKey Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaDepartment of Physics, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong KongKey Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, ChinaPlasmonic nanostructures have a great potential for enhancing light absorption of organic solar cells (OSCs). Our previous work has demonstrated that light absorption for OSCs with thin active layer can be significantly increased with a 1-D short-pitched metal grating, but the absorption enhancement is sensitive to the polarization of light and vanishes when the active layer is thicker than 60 nm. In this work, we extend the grating into 2-D space, specifically, with metallic nanocylinders packed in a hexagonal array embossed at the silver cathode. Numerical calculations indicate that the proposed OSC not only possesses polarization insensitivity but outperforms the corresponding equivalent planar device as well when the thickness of the active layer changes over a wide range from 40 to 120 nm. The absorption enhancement factor increases with the decrease of the active layer thickness, reaching 81.5% when the active layer is 40-nm thick. The evident enhancement in absorption is mainly due to the excitation of the strong dipole-like surface plasmon resonance, as well as their mutual coupling between neighboring nanocylinders. The present work could provide a promising route for the development of high-efficiency OSCs.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7580616/Organic solar cellsabsorption enhancementgratingssurface plasmon.
spellingShingle Wenyan Wang
Ye Zhang
Ming Chen
Yuying Hao
Ting Ji
Furong Zhu
Yanxia Cui
Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
IEEE Photonics Journal
Organic solar cells
absorption enhancement
gratings
surface plasmon.
title Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
title_full Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
title_fullStr Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
title_full_unstemmed Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
title_short Efficient Light Trapping in Organic Solar Cell Using a Short-Pitched Hexagonal Array of Metallic Nanocylinders
title_sort efficient light trapping in organic solar cell using a short pitched hexagonal array of metallic nanocylinders
topic Organic solar cells
absorption enhancement
gratings
surface plasmon.
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7580616/
work_keys_str_mv AT wenyanwang efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT yezhang efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT mingchen efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT yuyinghao efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT tingji efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT furongzhu efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders
AT yanxiacui efficientlighttrappinginorganicsolarcellusingashortpitchedhexagonalarrayofmetallicnanocylinders