Wang, Jinfeng Jia, Xiangkun Zhou, Jianping Pan, Likun Huang, Sumei Chen, Xiaohong Improved Performance of Polymer Solar Cells by Thermal Evaporation of AgAl Alloy Nanostructures into the Hole-Transport Layer The performance characteristics of polymer solar cells (PSCs) incorporated with AgAl and Ag nanostructures and MoO<sub>3</sub> spacer layers were investigated. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of PSCs is sensitive to the nominal thicknesses of the AgAl nanostructures and the MoO<sub>3</sub> spacer layer. The PCE of a PSC with a 3-nm-thick layer of AgAl nanostructures and a 1-nm-thick MoO<sub>3</sub> isolation layer reached 9.79%, which is higher than the PCE (8.55%) of the reference PSC without metal nanostructures. Compared to PSCs with Ag nanostructures, PSCs with AgAl nanostructures showed better stability and still retained 60% of their initial PCE values after aging for 120 days in air without encapsulation. The enhanced stability of the PSCs is attributed to the formation of AlO<sub><i>x</i></sub>, which can inhibit the diffusion of Ag atoms into the neighboring layer. The localized surface plasmonic resonance (LSPR) effect of AgAl nanostructures was retained by inserting an only 1-nm-thick MoO<sub>3</sub> spacer layer between the metal nanostructures and the metal electrode. Our work has demonstrated that using AgAl alloy instead of Ag as plasmonic nanostructures is a better strategy for improving the performance of PSCs, especially in terms of the stability of the cells. LSPR;power conversion efficiency;PCE;surface plasmonic resonance;Polymer Solar Cells;AgAl nanostructures;Ag nanostructures;3- nm-thick layer;MoO 3 spacer layer;metal nanostructures;AgAl Alloy Nanostructures;1- nm-thick MoO 3 isolation layer;MoO 3 spacer layers;PSC;1- nm-thick MoO 3 spacer layer 2016-09-13
    https://acs.figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/Improved_Performance_of_Polymer_Solar_Cells_by_Thermal_Evaporation_of_AgAl_Alloy_Nanostructures_into_the_Hole-Transport_Layer/3851859
10.1021/acsami.6b10173.s001