Plasmonic effect of gold nanoparticles in organic solar cells

Light trapping, due to the embedding of metallic nanoparticles, has been shown to be beneficial for a better photoabsorption in organic solar cells. Researchers in plasmonics and in the organic photovoltaics fields are working together to improve the absorption of sunlight and the photon–electron coupling to boost the performance of the devices. Recent advances in the field of plasmonics for organic solar cells focus on the incorporation of gold nanoparticles. This article reviews the different methods to produce and embed gold nanoparticles into organic solar cells. In particular, concentration, size and geometry of gold nanoparticles are key factors that directly influence the light absorption in the devices. It is shown that a careful choice of size, concentration and location of gold nanoparticles in the device result in an enhancement of the power conversion efficiencies when compared to standard organic solar cell devices. Our latest results on gold nanoparticles embedded in on organic solar cell devices are included. We demonstrate that embedded gold nanoparticles, created by depositing and annealing a gold film on transparent electrode, generate a plasmonic effect which can be exploited to increase the power conversion efficiency of a bulk heterojunction solar cell up to 10%.

Hexagon platinum Schottky contact with ZnO thin film for hydrogen sensing

This paper reports on the study of the effect on adding total peripheries and sharp edges to the Schottky contact as a hydrogen sensor. Schottky contact was successfully designed and fabricated as hexagon-shape. The contact was integrated together with zinc oxide thin film and tested towards 1% hydrogen gas. Simulations of the design were conducted using COMSOL Multiphysics to observe the electric field characteristic at the contact layer. The simulation results show higher electric field induced at sharp edges with 4.18×104 V/m. Current-voltage characteristic shows 0.27 V voltage shift at 40 μA biased current.