Versatile Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Nanoparticles in Polymer Solar Cells

Abstract

The coupling of surface plasmons and excitons in organic materials can improve the performance of organic optoelectronic devices. The surface plasmon resonance effect of carbon dot-supported silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) allows additional light absorption, leading to remarkably enhanced a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.31% and an internal quantum efficiency of 99% in polymer solar cells (PSCs) compared with control devices. Furthermore, we have demonstrated high-performance PSCs using the plasmonic effect of multi-positional silica-coated silver nanoparticles. The location of the nanoparticles is critical for increasing light absorption and scattering via enhanced electric field distribution. The device incorporating silica-coated silver nanoparticles between the hole transport layer and the active layer achieves a PCE of 8.92% with an external quantum efficiency of 81.5%. These results demonstrate that Ag NPs constitute a versatile and effective route for achieving high-performance polymer optoelectronic devices.