Single particle dual plasmonic effect for efficient organic solar cells

Incorporating localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) into organic solar cells (OSCs) is a popular method for improving the power conversion efficiency (PCE) by introducing better light absorption. In this work, we designed a one-pot synthesis of Ag@SiO 2 @AuNPs dual plasmons and observed an immense increase in light absorption over a wide range of wavelengths. Ag@SiO 2 plays the main role in enhancing light absorption near the ultraviolet band. The silica shell can also further enhance the LSP resonance effect and prevent recombination on the surface of AgNPs. The AuNPs on the Ag@SiO 2 shell exhibited strong broad visible-light absorption due to LSP resonance and decreased light reflectance. By utilizing Ag@SiO 2 @AuNPs, we could enhance the light absorption and photoinduced charge generation, thereby increasing the device PCE to 8.57% and J sc to 17.67 mA cm −2 , which can be attributed to the enhanced optical properties. Meanwhile, devices without LSPR nanoparticles and Ag@SiO 2 LSPR only showed PCEs of 7.36% and 8.18%, respectively.