Enhancing Efficiency of Nonfullerene Organic Solar Cells via Using Polyelectrolyte-Coated Plasmonic Gold Nanorods as Rear Interfacial Modifiers

Fabrication of Supported and Unsupported Gold Nanorods for Nonenzymatic Glucose Sensing and Study of Their Growth Kinetics

This work includes a novel approach for synthesis/fabrication of AuNRs of varied aspect ratios leading to investigation on the kinetics of their growth mechanism. The synthesized AuNRs were further functionalized with MWCNTs (AuNRs@MWCNTs) by one-pot synthesis. The synthesized AuNRs and AuNRs@MWCNTs were characterized by employing UV-vis spectroscopy. Red shifts in the spectra of AuNRs confirmed the formation of nanorods of higher aspect ratios. Morphology of AuNRs and functionalized AuNRs was confirmed by high-resolution scanning electron microscopy. Biological studies were carried out by fabricating efficient nonenzymatic glucose sensors for optical and electrochemical sensing via UV and cyclic voltammetry in the detection ranges of 0.7-28 mM glucose (UV) and 5.5 μM-0.33 mM (CV). An electrochemical sensing study was carried out via AuNR- and AuNRs@MWCNT-modified GCEs in a 0.1 M NaOH electrolyte solution. The modified electrodes exhibited very high sensitivity with a broad linear range. The order of sensitivity (via CV) was found to be AuNRX0@MWCNTs > AuNRD5@MWCNTs > AuNRD5 > AuNRX0.

Gold nanostructures/quantum dots for the enhanced efficiency of organic solar cells

Incorporating gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) into organic solar cell (OSC) structures provides an effective means to manipulate light-matter interactions. AuNPs have been used as plasmonic-enhancement and light-trapping materials in OSCs and exhibit diverse single and mixed morphologies. Substantial near-field enhancement from metal periodic structures has consistently demonstrated high enhancement in solar cell efficiency. Additionally, coupling with atomic gold clusters in the form of gold quantum dots holds promise for light harvesting through fluorescence phenomena. The configured devices optimize light utilization in OSCs by considering factors such as the morphology, position, and hybridization of localized surface plasmon resonance, propagating surface plasmon resonance, and fluorescence phenomena. This optimization enhances light absorption, scattering, and efficient trapping facilitated by gold nanostructures/quantum dots. The configured setup exhibits multiple effects, concurrently improving plasmonic and fluorescence responses under solar irradiation, thereby enhancing energy conversion performance. Integrating plasmonic nanostructures with OSCs can address fundamental issues, providing opportunities to enhance the light-absorption intensity and charge transfer efficiency at intra and intermolecular levels. This comprehensive review demonstrates that the greatest improvement in solar cell efficiency exceeded 30% compared with the reference cells.

Niobium-Carbide MXene Modified Hybrid Hole Transport Layer Enabling High-Performance Organic Solar Cells Over 19

Niobium-carbide (Nb₂ C) MXene as a new 2D material has shown great potential for application in photovoltaics due to its excellent electrical conductivity, large surface area, and superior transmittance. In this work, a novel solution-processable poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)-Nb₂ C hybrid hole transport layer (HTL) is developed to enhance the device performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). By optimizing the doping ratio of Nb₂ C MXene in PEDOT:PSS, the best power convention efficiency (PCE) of 19.33% can be achieved for OSCs based on the ternary active layer of PM6:BTP-eC9:L8-BO, which is so far the highest value among those of single junction OSCs using 2D materials. It is found that the addition of Nb₂ C MXene can facilitate the phase separation of the PEDOT and PSS segments, thus improving the conductivity and work function of PEDOT:PSS. The significantly enhanced device performance can be attributed to the higher hole mobility and charge extraction capability, as well as lower interface recombination probabilities generated by the hybrid HTL. Additionally, the versatility of the hybrid HTL to improve the performance of OSCs based on different nonfullerene acceptors is demonstrated. These results indicate the promising potential of Nb₂ C MXene in the development of high-performance OSCs.