title: Influence of SiO2 shell thickness on power conversion efficiency in plasmonic polymer solar cells with Au nanorod@SiO2 core-shell structures.
abstract: Locating core-shell metal nanoparticles into a photoactive layer or at the interface of photoactive layer/hole extraction layer is beneficial for fully employing surface plasmon energy, thus enhancing power conversion efficiency (PCE) in plasmonic organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs). Herein, we first investigated the influence of silica shell thickness in Au nanorods (NRs)@SiO2 core-shell structures on OPV performances by inserting them into poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(4-styrenesulfonate) and thieno[3,4-b]thiophene/benzodithiophene (PTB7) interface, and amazedly found that a 2-3 nm silica shell onto Au NRs induces a highest short-circuit current density of 21.2 mA cm(-2) and PCE of 9.55%. This is primarily due to an extremely strong local field and a much slower attenuation of localized surface plasmon resonance around ultrathin silica-coated Au NRs, with which the field intensity remains a high value in the active layer, thus sufficiently improves the absorption of PTB7. Our work provides a clear design concept on precise control of the shell of metal nanoparticles to realize high performances in plasmonic OPVs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Ran
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Yongfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Mechanical Engineering Institute, Nanjing Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211167, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.|Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University, 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China.
authors.forename: Shufen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Xiaomiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.
authors.forename: Yuqiao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing University of Posts &Telecommunications (NUPT), Nanjing 210023, China.|Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) &Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University, 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Huang