journal article·2023-04-14Open access

Broadband Photon Harvesting in Organic Photovoltaic Devices Induced by Large-Area Nanogrooved Templates

Debasree Chowdhury, Shaimaa A. Mohamed, Giacomo Manzato, Beatrice Siri, Roberto Chittofrati, Maria Caterina Giordano, Mohamed Hussein, Mohamed F. O. Hameed, Salah S. A. Obayya, Philipp Stadler, Markus C. Scharber, Giuseppe Della Valle, Francesco Buatier de Mongeot

ACS Applied Nano Materials· Volume 6· Issue 7

Abstract

Thin-film organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices represent an attractive alternative to conventional silicon solar cells due to their lightweight, flexibility, and low cost. However, the relatively low optical absorption of the OPV active layers still represents an open issue in view of efficient devices that cannot be addressed by adopting conventional light coupling strategies derived from thick PV absorbers. The light coupling to thin-film solar cells can be boosted by nanostructuring the device interfaces at the subwavelength scale. Here, we demonstrate broadband and omnidirectional photon harvesting in thin-film OPV devices enabled by highly ordered one-dimensional (1D) arrays of nanogrooves. Laser interference lithography, in combination with reactive ion etching (RIE), provides the controlled tailoring of the height and periodicity of the silica grooves, enabling effective tuning of the anti-reflection properties in the active organic layer (PTB7:PCBM). With this strategy, we demonstrate a strong enhancement of the optical absorption, as high as 19% with respect to a flat device, over a broadband visible and near-infrared spectrum. The OPV device supported on these optimized nanogrooved substrates yields a 14% increase in short-circuit current over the corresponding flat device, highlighting the potential of this large-scale light-harvesting strategy in the broader context of thin-film technologies.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Photonic and Optical Devices · Nanowire Synthesis and Applications · Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Department of Physics, University of Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova, Italy

Centre for Photonics and Smart Materials, Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation, October Gardens, 6th of October City, Giza 12578, Egypt

Centre for Nanotechnology, Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation, October Gardens, 6th of October City, Giza 12578, Egypt

Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics Engineering Program, Zewail City of Science, Technology and Innovation, October Gardens, 6th of October City, Giza 12578, Egypt

Physical Chemistry, Linz Institute for Organic Solar Cell (LIOS), Johannes Kepler University Linz, Altenbergerstr, 69, A-4040 Linz, Austria

Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia, 11566 Cairo, Egypt

Light Technology Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Engesserstrasse 13, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany

Mathematics and Engineering Physics Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mansoura, Mansoura 35516, Egypt

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mansoura, Mansoura 35516, Egypt

Dipartimento di Fisica and IFN-CNR, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, 32-20133 Milano, Italy

Funding

Science and Technology Development Fund · Universit? degli Studi di Genova · Ministero dell?Istruzione, dell?Universit? e della Ricerca · Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics · Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale

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