The design of efficient surface-plasmon-enhanced ultra-thin polymer-based solar cells

Polymer based solar cells are particularly attractive because of their mechanical flexibility and potential for low-cost fabrication. Although significant progress has been made, their efficiency is reduced strongly due to recombination processes that scale with the thickness of the active layer. A theoretical study of periodic plasmonic solar cell enhancement is presented, including a design for demonstrating high efficiency while using a significantly reduced active layer thicknesses. This is achieved through the superposition of toothgrating structures of multiple periodicities along a silver reflecting layer. Through finite-difference time-domain calculations, it was possible to optimize the overall spectral response of the cell yielding surface plasmon resonances at predetermined wavelengths. The improved solar cell design results in a system with increased absorption, allowing for the desired reduction in active layer thickness while also enhancing the performance of the cell over a wide wavelength range. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3633349]