Surface plasmon resonance synergistic coupling effects of gold nanoparticulates with silver grating in P3HT:PC61BM based organic solar cell

Abstract A systematic study was carried out to observe possible boosts in the performance of poly-(3-hexyl thiophene):phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PC 61 BM) based organic solar cell via synergistic coupling of plasmonic effects. Various volume concentration ratios of gold nanoparticles and nanorods ranging from 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8% were used to determine an optimum condition. An indicative 2% optimum condition led to synergistic tests. The synergistic coupling of gold nanorods with backcontact grating revealed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.88%. Since post-thermal annealing process results in optimum interfacial surface morphology and structural reorganization, a post-process hypothesis was performed to observe the behavior of the devices at RT with further comparisons at 40 °C. A further increase in the initial performance of the devices was observed with an optimum PCE of 5.43%. The behavior in the performances revealed stable measurements mostly attributed to conditions below the glass transition temperature of P3HT:PC 61 BM.