Abstract
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► Effect of gold nanorods on the performance of bulk heterojunction solar cells investigated. ► Gold nanorods were introduced into the anodic buffer layer by blending. ► A low density of gold nanorods showed a remarkable 21.3% enhancement in the power conversion efficiency. ► Enhancements are related to the localized plasmon resonance modes in the metallic nanoparticles. ► A reduction of 36% in the device series resistance is also observed.
In this work, the effect of gold nanorods on the performance of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methyl-ester bulk heterojunction solar cells was investigated. Gold nanorods were introduced into the anodic buffer layer by simply blending them with the solution of poly(3,4-ethyl-enedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate). Even with a fairly low density of the nanorods, the resulting devices showed a remarkable 21.3% enhancement in the power conversion efficiency and a 13% enlargement in the short circuit current. By examining the absorbance profiles of active films made with different conditions, such enhancements can be related to the localized transverse and longitudinal plasmon resonance modes in the metallic nanoparticles. Gold nanorods helped as well in reducing the device series resistance by up to 36%, which also contributed to the global enhancement in the efficiency.