Novel architecture of plasmon excitation based on self-assembled nanoparticle arrays for photovoltaics.

An efficient approach to producing hexagonally self-assembled and well-dispersed gold (Au) nanoparticles (NPs) in the pores of porous anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) is reported. This approach is particularly useful for tuning the surface plasmon resonance frequency of Au NPs by varying the effective dielectric constant of AAO. A strongly enhanced Raman spectrum of dye molecule rhodamine 6G using these well-dispersed Au NPs revealed that such a self-assembled Au NP array can induce a strong plasmonic field. Furthermore, we demonstrated a new architecture of plasmon excitation in a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) inverted organic solar cell (IOSC) using the Au NP array with AAO. The optical response of an active layer poly(3-hexylthiophene):(6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester was enhanced by this strong plasmonic field associated a well-dispersed Au NP array. A comparative study of AAO with and without Au NPs confirmed plasmonic improvement of the BHJ IOSC. Simulation results showed that Au NPs concentrate the incoming light into a strongly localized field and enhance light absorption in a wide wavelength range.