Light concentration and redistribution in polymer solar cells by plasmonic nanoparticles

Rayleigh anomaly-enabled mode hybridization in gold nanohole arrays by scalable colloidal lithography for highly-sensitive biosensing

Plasmonic sensors exhibit tremendous potential to accomplish real-time, label-free, and high-sensitivity biosensing. Gold nanohole array (GNA) is one of the classic plasmonic nanostructures that can be readily fabricated and integrated into microfluidic platforms for a variety of applications. Even though GNA has been widely studied, new phenomena and applications are still emerging continuously expanding its capabilities. In this article, we demonstrated narrow-band high-order resonances enabled by Rayleigh anomaly in the nanohole arrays that are fabricated by scalable colloidal lithography. We fabricated large-area GNAs with different hole diameters, and investigated their transmission characteristics both numerically and experimentally. We showed that mode hybridization between the plasmon mode of the nanoholes and Rayleigh anomaly of the array could give rise to high-quality decapole resonance with a unique nearfield profile. We experimentally achieved a refractive index sensitivity, i.e., RIS up to 407 nm/RIU. More importantly, we introduced a spectrometer-free refractive index sensing based on lens-free smartphone imaging of GNAs with (intensity) sensitivity up to 137%/RIU. Using this platform, we realized the label-free detection of BSA molecules with concentration as low as 10-8 M. We believe our work could pave the way for highly sensitive and compact point-of-care devices with cost-effective and high-throughput plasmonic chips.

Enhancement of organic solar cell performance by incorporating gold quantum dots (AuQDs) on a plasmonic grating

The incorporation of metallic nanoobjects into devices allows to increase light harvesting, which increases the device performance. In this study, we used a combination of gold quantum dots and grating-coupled surface plasmon resonance (GCSPR) to improve the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) with a poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT):[6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) photoactive layer. Gold quantum dots with a green fluorescent color (green-AuQD) were loaded into a hole transport layer (HTL) aiming to harvest photons in the UV region and emit visible light into the neighboring photoactive layer. Meanwhile, plasmonic grating structures, which were created on the photoactive layer surfaces via the nanoimprinting technique, provided an enhancement effect through light scattering and GCSPR. Thus, an excellent enhancement of OSC efficiency with a significant increase in short circuit photocurrent (J SC) and power conversion efficiency (PCE) in comparison to that of the reference cell was achieved. The fabricated device provides a J SC value as high as 8.41 mA cm-2 (a 14.11% enhancement) and a PCE value of 3.91% (a 19.57% enhancement). The systematic study clearly reveals that the remarkable enhancement of OSC efficiency is achieved by incorporating both AuQD and plasmonic grating.

Broadband Absorption Enhancement in Polymer Solar Cells Using Highly Efficient Plasmonic Heterostructured Nanocrystals

Raising the light absorption of the photoactive layer in polymer solar cells (PSCs) without increasing the layer thickness is desirable but challenging because of the low carrier mobility of organic materials. Herein, we used the coupled localized surface plasmon resonance of heterostructured Au-Cu_{2- x}S nanocrystals (NCs) to improve the light-trapping capability of the photoactive layer of PSCs. Broadband light absorption and a considerable improvement of the power conversion efficiency were obtained when the photoactive layer was doped with a tiny amount of NCs. This can be explicated by the enhanced near-field intensity and broadband scattering properties of added NCs.

Efficiency Enhancement of Perovskite Solar Cells with Plasmonic Nanoparticles: A Simulation Study

Recently, hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have been extensively studied due to their promising optical properties with relatively low-cost and simple processing. However, the perovskite solar cells have some low optical absorption in the visible spectrum, especially around the red region. In this paper, an improvement of perovskite solar cell efficiency is studied via simulations through adding plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) at the rear side of the solar cell. The plasmonic resonance wavelength is selected to be very close to the spectrum range of lower absorption of the perovskite: around 600 nm. Both gold and silver nanoparticles (Au and Ag NPs) are selected to introduce the plasmonic effect with diameters above 40 nm, to get an overlap between the plasmonic resonance spectrum and the requested lower absorption spectrum of the perovskite layer. Simulations show the increase in the short circuit current density (J_sc) as a result of adding Au and Ag NPs, respectively. Enhancement in J_sc is observed as the diameter of both Au and Ag NPs is increased beyond 40 nm. Furthermore, there is a slight increase in the reflection loss as the thickness of the plasmonic nanoparticles at the rear side of the solar cell is increased. A significant decrease in the current loss due to transmission is achieved as the size of the nanoparticles increases. As a comparison, slightly higher enhancement in external quantum efficiency (EQE) can be achieved in case of adding Ag NPs rather than Au NPs.

High-Efficiency and High-Color-Rendering-Index Semitransparent Polymer Solar Cells Induced by Photonic Crystals and Surface Plasmon Resonance

Semitransparent polymer solar cells (ST-PSCs) show attractive potential in power-generating windows or building-integrated photovoltaics. However, the development of ST-PSCs is lagging behind opaque PSCs because of the contradiction between device efficiency and transmission. Herein, Ag/Au alloy nanoparticles and photonic crystals (PCs) were simultaneously introduced into ST-PSCs, acting compatibly as localized surface plasmon resonances and distributed Bragg reflectors to enhance light absorption and transmission. As a result, ST-PSCs based on a hybrid PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM active layer contribute an efficiency as high as 7.13 ± 0.15% and an average visible transmission beyond 20%, which are superior to most of the reported results. Furthermore, PCs can partly compensate valley range of transmission by balancing reflection and transmission regions, yielding a high color rendering index of 95. We believe that the idea of two light management methods compatibly enhancing the performance of ST-PSCs can offer a promising path to develop photovoltaic applications.

Surface-plasmon mediated photoluminescence enhancement of Pt-coated ZnO nanowires by inserting an atomic-layer-deposited Al₂O₃ spacer layer

Surface-plasmon mediated photoluminescence emission enhancement has been investigated for ZnO nanowire (NW)/Pt nanoparticle (NP) nanostructures by inserting an Al2O3 spacer layer. The thickness of the Al2O3 spacer layer and of the Pt NPs capped on the ZnO NWs are well controlled by atomic layer deposition. It is found that the photoluminescence property of the ZnO NW/Al2O3/Pt hybrid structure is highly tunable with respect to the thickness of the inserted Al2O3 spacer layer. The highest enhancement (∼14 times) of the near band emission of ZnO NWs is obtained with an optimized Al2O3 spacer layer thickness of 10 nm leading to a ultraviolet-visible emission ratio of 271.2 compared to 18.8 for bare ZnO NWs. The enhancement of emission is influenced by a Förster-type non-radiative energy transfer process of the exciton energy from ZnO NWs to Pt NPs as well as the coupling effect between excitons of ZnO NWs and surface plasmons of Pt NPs. The highly versatile and tunable photoluminescence properties of Pt-coated ZnO NWs achieved by introducing an Al2O3 spacer layer demonstrate their potential application in highly efficient optoelectronic devices.

Highly efficient dual-plasmon polymer solar cell incorporating Au@SiO2 core–shell nanorods and Ag nanoparticles

Au NRs with ultrathin SiO₂ shells directly spin-coated onto P3HT:PCBM and dual-plasmon.

Dielectric Function for Gold in Plasmonics Applications: Size Dependence of Plasmon Resonance Frequencies and Damping Rates for Nanospheres

Realistic representation of the frequency dependence of dielectric function of noble metals has a significant impact on the accuracy of description of their optical properties and farther applications in plasmonics, nanoscience, and nanotechnology. Drude-type models successfully used in describing material properties of silver, for gold are known to be not perfect above the threshold energy at 1.8 eV. We give the improved, simple dielectric function for gold which accounts for the frequency dependence of the interband transitions over 1.8 eV and, in addition, for the finite size effects in gold nanoparticles. On that basis, we provide the improved characterization of the spectral performance of gold nanoparticles. Furthermore, we give the direct size dependence of the resonance frequencies and total damping rates of localized surface plasmons of gold nanoparticles (retardation effects are taken into full account) in diverse dielectric environments. The results are compared to the data obtained experimentally for gold monodisperse colloidal nanospheres, as well with the experimental results of other authors.

Recent advances in transition metal complexes and light-management engineering in organic optoelectronic devices

Two of the recent major research topics in optoelectronic devices are discussed: the development of new organic materials (both molecular and polymeric) for the active layer of organic optoelectronic devices (particularly organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs)), and light management, including light extraction for OLEDs and light trapping for organic solar cells (OSCs). In the first section, recent developments of phosphorescent transition metal complexes for OLEDs in the past 3-4 years are reviewed. The discussion is focused on the development of metal complexes based on iridium, platinum, and a few other transition metals. In the second part, different light-management strategies in the design of OLEDs with improved light extraction, and of OSCs with improved light trapping is discussed.

Efficient hybrid plasmonic polymer solar cells with Ag nanoparticle decorated TiO2 nanorods embedded in the active layer

A hybrid plasmonic polymer solar cell, in which plasmonic metallic nanostructures (such as Ag, Au, and Pt nanoparticles) are embedded in the active layer, has been under intense scrutiny recently because it provides a promising new approach to enhance the efficiency of the device. We propose a brand new hybrid plasmonic nanostructure, which combines a plasmonic metallic nanostructure and one-dimensional semiconductor nanocrystals, to enhance the photocurrent of the device through a strong localized electric field and an enhanced charge transport channel. We demonstrate that when Ag nanoparticle decorated TiO2 nanorods were introduced into the active layer of polymer-fullerene based bulk heterojunction solar cells, the photocurrent significantly increased to 14.15 mA cm(-2) from 6.51 mA cm(-2) without a decrease in the open voltage; thus, the energy conversion efficiency was dramatically enhanced to 4.87% from 2.57%.

Manipulating light absorption of graphene using plasmonic nanoparticles

We present the incorporation of periodic gold nanoparticle arrays into graphene-based photodetectors to enhance and tune light absorption of graphene. By the use of electromagnetic simulations, we show that light absorption in graphene can be manipulated by tuning plasmonic resonance. A maximum absorption of 30.3% with a full width of 135 nm at half maximum is achieved through systematic optimization of nanostructures.

Plasmonic-enhanced organic photovoltaics: breaking the 10% efficiency barrier

Recent advances in molecular organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have shown 10% power conversion efficiency (PCE) for single-junction cells, which put them in direct competition with PVs based on amorphous silicon. Incorporation of plasmonic nanostructures for light trapping in these thin-film devices offers an attractive solution to realize higher-efficiency OPVs with PCE>>10%. This article reviews recent progress on plasmonic-enhanced OPV devices using metallic nanoparticles, and one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) patterned periodic nanostructures. We discuss the benefits of using various plasmonic nanostructures for broad-band, polarization-insensitive and angle-independent absorption enhancement, and their integration with one or two electrode(s) of an OPV device.