Influence of Aluminum Pillar Nanostructures on Thin-Film Organic Solar Cells

This study explores the application of pillar nanostructures in organic solar cells (OSCs). The aluminum pillar nanostructures (AlPNSs) are fabricated on an active layer surface comprising of a blend poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester using nanoimprinting. Aluminum back electrodes are formed, resulting in AlPNSs with an imprinted pattern height of 60 +/- 6 nm and a pitch of 212 +/- 49 nm. Atomic force microscope images and current density versus voltage curves are obtained for the fabricated devices, both with and without AlPNSs. The results indicate a solar cell efficiency increase of 15.16% in the AlPNS OSCs compared to the reference cells. To investigate the role of AlPNSs in the enhancement, impedance spectroscopy, incident photon-to-current efficiency, UV-Vis reflection spectroscopy, and finite-difference time-domain simulations are performed for the both devices. The results demonstrate that the combination of propagating surface plasmon resonance and light-trapping properties due to AlPNSs significantly enhances the overall optical performance. This research provides new insights into the potential of imprinted nanostructures for enhancing OSC performance, including their plasmonic and optical characteristics. This research investigates the utilization of aluminum pillar nanostructures (AlPNSs) in organic solar cells (OSCs). AlPNSs are fabricated on the active layer as back electrode, leading to a 15.16% enhancement in solar cell efficiency compared to reference cells. The findings shed light on the promising prospects of the nanostructures, highlighting their plasmonic and optical attributes in improving OSC performance.image (c) 2024 WILEY-VCH GmbH