Enhanced performance of organic solar cells with multifunctional silica-coated Au nanobowtie core-shell structure

The multifunctional silica-coated Au nanobowtie (GNB@SiO₂) core-shell structure was embedded in organic solar cells (OSCs), and an intense performance promotion of the devices was achieved by optimizing the shape and the size of the GNB@SiO₂. The light absorption of the active layer was increased with GNB@SiO₂ doping concentration increasing until the doping concentration exceeds 10 nM. The devices obtain the best J-V characteristics when GNB@SiO₂ doping concentration is 10 nM. Comparing with that of the control cells, the optimal performance of the devices with GNB@SiO₂ incorporated was significantly increased by 47%. The finite-difference time-domain method was used to simulate the special asymmetry shape and the size of the multifunctional GNB@SiO₂ impact on the performance of the OSCs. The electric field intensity |E|² in the different planes revealed that the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and far-field scattering effect played an important role in the light absorption of the devices. The cooperation effect of LSPR near-field and the far-field scattering resulted in the electric field redistribution of the active layer as the result of the absorption enhanced.