Improving the efficiency of organic solar cells through the addition of silver nanoparticles and cadmium oxide

Hunt, Matthew Brady (2016) Improving the efficiency of organic solar cells through the addition of silver nanoparticles and cadmium oxide. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The development of renewable energy technologies has received significant attention in recent years. Among the many different approaches, organic solar cells have much promise due to their low cost of manufacturing (as compared to silicon based solar cells), increased exibility, low weight, and high cell transparency. In this study we investigate the possibility of performance enhancement of organic solar cells by the addition of silver nanoparticles as well as cadmium oxide. The effects on the performance of organic solar cells with the addition of silver nanoparticles was examined through the addition of 5, 10, 20, and 30 nm diameter silver nanoparticles within the structure of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C60 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) based devices. It was found that in general the addition of silver nanoparticles improved the overall performance of the devices with the 5 and 10 nm nanoparticles providing the greatest improvement in performance. Additionally, cadmium oxide was tested as a buffer layer for the organic solar cells, replacing the poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) that is normally used in organic solar cells.

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