Performance enhancement of organic photovoltaic devices enabled by Au nanoarrows inducing surface plasmonic resonance effect.

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of metal nanoparticles is widely employed in organic solar cells to enhance device performance. However, the light-harvesting improvement is highly dependent on the shape of the metal nanoparticles. In this study, the significantly enhanced performance upon incorporation of Au nanoarrows in solution-processed organic photovoltaic devices is demonstrated. Incorporating Au nanoarrows into the ZnO cathode buffer layer results in superior broadband optical absorption improvement and a power conversion efficiency of 7.82% is realized with a 27.3% enhancement compared with the control device. The experimental and theoretical results indicate that the introduction of Au nanoarrows not only increases optical trapping by the SPR effect but also facilitates exciton generation, dissociation, and charge transport inside the thin film device.