Mechanism of optical absorption enhancement in thin film organic solar cells with plasmonic metal nanoparticles.

The optical absorption enhancement in thin film organic solar cells (OSCs) with plasmonic metal nanoparticles (NPs) has been studied by means of finite element method with a three-dimension model. It is found that significant plasmonic enhancement of above 100% can be obtained by introducing Ag-NPs at the interface between P3HT:PCBM active layer and PEDOT:PSS anode layer. This enhancement is even larger than that with Ag-NPs totally embedded in the P3HT:PCBM active layer of thin film OSCs. Furthermore, the enhancement mechanism of Ag-NPs at different positions of thin film OSCs is investigated.