Investigating several ZrN plasmonic nanostructures and their effect on the absorption of organic solar cells

Broadband absorption enhancement is obtained in organic solar cells using zirconium nitride (ZrN) plasmonic nanostructures. Due to the thickness limitations imposed on organic solar cells, their absorption efficiency is limited. Plasmonic nanostructures have the ability to increase their optical efficiency by increasing the light path length inside the active material. Here, refractory plasmonics, a new type of plasmonic nanostructures, is used in organic solar cells instead of traditional metal plasmonics. ZrN, as an example of refractory plasmonics, has a high localized surface plasmon resonance quality factor in the visible range while being cheap, abundant, and C-MOS compatible. Here, several ZrN plasmonic nanostructures are studied including ZrN nanospheres, nanocubes, and nanoshells. Their Mie scattering and absorption efficiencies in a polymer environment are calculated. In addition, the effect of their incorporation on the absorbed power and short circuit current of organic solar cell is analyzed. ZrN nanodisks are also studied in different locations inside the solar cell with the best performance found for nanodisks placed at the interface between the active and the buffer layer. The highest absorption enhancement reported here is obtained when ZrN cubical nanoshells are added. A 34.7% increase in short circuit current is calculated for this structure.

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