Silver doped nickel oxide nanocomposite and photon harvesting enhancement in bulkheterojunction organic solar cell

Abstract Silver doped nickel oxide (Ag:NiOx) nanocomposites (NC) were synthesized using a thermal decomposition method for possible application in thin-film organic solar cells. Two different synthesis products were found from the experiment, which have exhibited different characteristics in terms of colour, structure, and optical properties. These nanocomposites (Ag:NiOx) have two distinct colours namely green and black. The green powder contains a trace of carbon element while the black powder is pure Ag:NiOx. Both products were used in device fabrication to assist in photons harvesting at a various concentration of the NC by weight. In all cases, an optimum concentration of 1 wt% of the Ag:NiOx powders were found to yield a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.9% and 5.1% for the green and black powders, respectively. Higher concentrations of Ag:NiOx in the solar absorber layers were found to be unfavorable in improving device performances. Overall, both synthesized metal NCs performed fairly similar and they have improved device performance substantially compared to the reference cells. The experimental results are discussed in terms of optical and electrical properties of the absorber layer as well as charge transport processes.