7-11 July 2014
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
<a href="http://events.saip.org.za/internalPage.py?pageId=16&confId=34"><font color=#0000ff>SAIP2014 Proceedings published on 17 April 2015</font></a>

Enhanced light harvesting and conversion efficiency by plasmonic Ag nanoparticles incorporated in organic photovoltaics

11 Jul 2014, 11:50
20m
D Les 103

D Les 103

Oral Presentation Track F - Applied Physics Applied

Speaker

Dr Kamalakannan Ranganathan (University of the Witwatersrand)

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

Prof. Neil J Coville, School of Chemistry, Wits
neil.coville@wits.ac.za

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

Energy harvesting by photovoltaic (PV) solar cells is a promising technology for future energy requirements. In the energy harvesting process, organic PVs (OPVs) show promising potential because of their capability to be incorporated with various nanomaterials in a cost effective way when compared to present day inorganic based PVs. The main bottle-neck for OPVs are to achieve higher power conversion efficiency (PCEs), which is a trade-off between the amount of light absorption, efficient photo-generation of electrons/holes and their charge transport to the respective electrodes. To overcome these difficulties nanoplasmonics has emerged recently as a new frontier in OPV research [1]. Noble metal nanostructures that can concentrate, scatter and guide light have demonstrated great capability for dramatically improving the PCE.
In the present study Ag nanoparticles are incorporated with hole transport layer (HTL). Here, commercially available PEDOT: PSS and as synthesized reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are used as HTL for OPV devices. Plasmonic absorption of Ag nanoparticles are studied by UV-Vis spectroscopy. The absorption wavelength was found to be tuned by size, coverage and geometry of the Ag nanoparticles. To demonstrate the effect of plasmonics in OPVs, a photoactive layer (P3HT:PCBM blend) has been spin coated on HTL layer followed by thermally evaporated Al electrode. The device properties are analysed by J-V measurements and the results are discussed with evaluated parameters and compared against a pristine device.

Reference
[1] M. Gu, Z. Ouyang, B. Jia, Nicholas Stokes et al., Nanophotonics 1 (2012) 235

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

No

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD)?

PhD

Primary author

Dr Kamalakannan Ranganathan (University of the Witwatersrand)

Co-authors

Dr Daniel Wamwangi (University of the Witwatersrand) Prof. Neil Coville (University of the Witwatersrand)

Presentation Materials

There are no materials yet.