Perspectives of Exploring ZnO Nanoparticles on the Active Layer Surface of Organic Solar Cells

In this work, we investigate the use of zinc oxide (ZnO) semiconductor nanospheres on the top surface of a 200 nm thick P3HT:PCBM film to improve the optical efficiency of organic solar cells. 3D full-wave computational modeling was explored to investigate the interaction of light with the semiconductor nanospheres and P3HT:PCBM film. The obtained results demonstrate that 160 nm diameter ZnO nanospheres scatter light predominately into the active layer, enhancing the light absorption of the organic material. The results were obtained by covering 25% of the organic solar cell active layer surface with ZnO nanospheres. At 550nm the absorption enhancement value reachs 12%. At 650 nm the absorption enhancement reachs up to 35x. The findings indicate that ZnO nanospheres can improve the performance of organic solar cells.