Donor–Acceptor Interfaces by Engineered Nanoparticles Assemblies for Enhanced Efficiency in Plastic Planar Heterojunction Solar Cells

Precisely positioning functionalized gold nano particles assemblies at planar donor-acceptor interfaces results in 14-fold enhancement of power conversion efficiency in P3HT/PCBM organic solar cells on plastic (ITO/PET) substrates. This result has been achieved by employing naphthalenethiol-capped gold nanoparticles (NT-Au-NPs) produced by laser ablation in liquid and size varied in the 10-30 nm range. Upon surface functionalization with the aromatic thiol, these particles self-assemble in submicrometer aggregates, which give increased light scattering. When these aggregates are deposited in the planar heterojunction between the donor and the acceptor systems, the localized scattering leads to a larger exciton formation just in the region of interest for charge transfer.