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Enhanced Structural Stability and Performance Durability of Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices Incorporating Metallic Nanoparticles
Author(s) -
Paci Barbara,
Spyropoulos George D.,
Generosi Amanda,
Bailo Daniele,
Albertini Valerio Rossi,
Stratakis Emmanuel,
Kymakis Emmanuel
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201101047
Subject(s) - materials science , photoactive layer , polymer solar cell , photodegradation , photovoltaic system , nanoparticle , composite number , degradation (telecommunications) , organic solar cell , active layer , chemical engineering , heterojunction , nanotechnology , absorption (acoustics) , polymer , layer (electronics) , composite material , optoelectronics , photocatalysis , organic chemistry , ecology , telecommunications , catalysis , chemistry , thin film transistor , computer science , engineering , biology
Abstract Despite the progress on organic photovoltaic (OPV) performance, the photoactive layer degradation during prolonged solar illumination is still a major obstacle. In this work, an approach to mitigate the degradation pathway related to structural/morphological changes of the photoactive layer occurring upon continuous illumination in air is presented. It is shown, for the first time, that the incorporation of Ag nanoparticles in poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6‐6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester bulk heterojunction (BHJ) leads to improved structural and morphological properties of the composite BHJ solar cells and to better photovoltaic (PV) stability after long periods of continuous illumination. This is evidenced by an original approach based on joint in‐situ time‐resolved X‐ray and atomic force microscopy monitoring. Besides the structural stability improvement and reduced photodegradation rate, it is shown that the composite blends exhibit superior PV performance compared to the pristine BHJs. It can be postulated that the incorporation of metallic nanoparticles in the BHJ leads to a dual enhancement, a plasmon absorption mediated effect, causing improved initial cell efficiency, and a structural stability effect giving rise to reduced degradation rate upon prolonged illumination. The results are in favor of the exploitation of polymer–nanoparticle composites as a promising approach to mitigate the aging effects in OPVs.