Detrimental Effect of Silicon Nanoparticles on P3HT:PCBM-Based OPV Devices.

The effect of incorporating 2.85 nm red luminescent silicon nanoparticles as photoluminescence down-shifters on the efficiency of organic solar cells based on regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester is investigated. The silicon nanoparticles are deposited by spin coating and inkjet printing on different layers of the devices. The presence of the silicon nanoparticles in the organic solar cells does not result in any performance improvement and causes a significant degradation of the power conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]