Scientific Reports (Nov 2023)

Dielectric light-trapping nanostructure for enhanced light absorption in organic solar cells

  • Seongcheol Ju,
  • Hyeonwoo Kim,
  • Hojae Kwak,
  • Cheolhun Kang,
  • Incheol Jung,
  • Seunghyun Oh,
  • Seung Gol Lee,
  • Jeonghyun Kim,
  • Hui Joon Park,
  • Kyu-Tae Lee

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-47898-9
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 1
pp. 1 – 9

Abstract

Read online

Abstract Dielectric scatterers where Mie resonances can be excited in both electric and magnetic modes have emerged as a promising candidate for efficient light trapping (LT) in thin-film solar cells. We present that light absorption in organic solar cells (OSCs) can be significantly enhanced by a front-sided incorporation of a core–shell nanostructure consisting of a high-refractive-index dielectric nanosphere array conformally coated with a low-refractive-index dielectric layer. Strong forward light scattering of the all-dielectric LT structure enables the absorption in an organic semiconductor to be remarkably boosted over a broad range of wavelengths, which is attributed to interference of a simultaneous excitation of the electric and magnetic dipole resonant modes. The OSC with the LT structure shows the short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 28.23 mA/cm2, which is 10% higher than that of a flat OSC. We also explore how the LT structure affects scattering cross-sections, spectral multipole resonances, and far-field radiation patterns. The approach described in this work could offer the possibility for the improvement of characteristic performances of various applications, such as other thin-film solar cells, photodiodes, light-emitting diodes, and absorbers.