Local surface plasmon resonance assisted energy harvesting in thin film organic solar cells

Abstract Nickel sulphide(NiS) nano-particles are used in the solar absorber medium of thin film organic solar cell (TFOSC) to aid in harvesting solar energy. Solution-processed TFOSCs were fabricated using poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) and (6-6) phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blend photo-active layer with or without NiS nano-particles(NPs). The new solar cells showed enhanced opto-electronic properties by the incorporation of NPs. The experimental data suggest that the device performances have been influenced by the concentration of NiS nano-particles in the absorber layer. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency(PCE) of the solar cell has improved by 93 % from the reference cell, at 1 % optimum concentration of NiS NPs by weight. The best PCE recorded in this investigation was 4.63 %, which is an important development in an ambient environment preparation condition. The effect of the metal nano-particles clearly demonstrated in this investigation in terms of enhanced short circuit current (Jsc) and PCE, which are an indicators of improved exciton dissociation and charge transportation processes in the medium. The results will be discussed by way of optical and electrical properties of the absorber films.