Dostalek, Plasmonic organic thin-film solar cell: light trapping by using conformal vs non-conformal relief gratings

Theoretical study of light management in thin film organic photovoltaic cell that utilizes diffraction coupling to guided waves is presented. As a model system, a regular solar cell geometry with P3HT:PCBM active layer, transparent ITO electrode and Al backside electrode is used. The paper discusses enhancement of absorption of incident photons selectively in the active layer by the interplay of surface plasmon polariton and optical waveguide waves, the effect on the profile of their field and damping that affects the spatial distribution of dissipated light energy in the layer structure. The model shows that for optimized grating period and modulation depth the number of absorbed photons in the active layer can be increased by 24 per cent. The comparison of the geometry with conformal and non-conformally corrugated layers reveals that the conformal structure outperforms the non-conformal in the enhancing of photon absorption in the wavelength range of 350-800 nm.