Plasmonic Metal Nanoparticles with Core–Bishell Structure for High-Performance Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells

Abstract

To maximize light coupling into the active layer, plasmonic nanostructures have been incorporated into both active layers of organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with the aim of increasing light absorption, but reports have shown controversial results in electrical characteristics. In this work, we introduce a core–bishell concept to build plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) with metal–inorganic semiconductor–organic semiconductor nanostructure. Specifically, Ag NPs were decorated with a titania/benzoic-acid-fullerene bishell (Ag@TiO2@Pa), which enables the NPs to be compatible with fullerene acceptors or a perovskite absorber. Moreover, coating the Ag@TiO2 NP with a fullerene shell can activate efficient plasmon–exciton coupling and eliminate the charge accumulation, thus facilitating exciton dissociation and reducing the monomolecular recombination. The improved light absorption and enhanced carrier extraction of devices with Ag@TiO2@Pa nanoparticles are responsible for the improved short-circuit current and fill factor, respectively. On the basis of the synergistic effects (optical and electrical), a series of plasmonic OSCs exhibited enhancement of 12.3–20.7% with a maximum power conversion efficiency of 13.0%, while the performance of plasmonic PSCs also showed an enhancement by 10.2% from 18.4% to 20.2%. This core–bishell design concept of plasmonic nanostructures demonstrates a general approach to improving the photovoltaic performance with both optical and electrical contributions.