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Structure and Thickness Optimization of Active Layer in Nanoscale Organic Solar Cells

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Abstract

This paper presents the development of a two-dimensional model of multilayer bulk heterojunction organic nanoscale solar cells, consisting of the thickness of active layer and morphology of the device. The proposed model is utilized to optimize the device parameters in order to achieve the best performance using particle swarm optimization algorithm. The organic solar cells under research are from poly (3-hexylthiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester type which are modelled to be investigated for performance enhancement. A three-dimensional fitness function is proposed involving domain size and active layer thickness as variables. The best results out of 20 runs of optimization show that the optimized value for domain size is 17 nm, while the short-circuit current vs. voltage characteristic shows a very good agreement with the experimental results obtained by previous researchers.

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Acknowledgments

Authors would like acknowledge the financial support from the Research University grant of the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia, under project Q.J130000.2523.04H99.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Rasoul Rahmani

  2. Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Hediyeh Karimi

  3. Department of Mathematical Science, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia

    Leila Ranjbari

  4. Department of Electrical Engineering, Mobarakeh Branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

    Mehran Emadi

  5. School of Engineering, Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, 3216, Victoria, Australia

    Mohammadmehdi Seyedmahmoudian

  6. Advanced Informatic School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 54100, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Aida Shafiabady

  7. Computational Nanoelectronic Research Group, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia

    Razali Ismail

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  1. Rasoul Rahmani
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  2. Hediyeh Karimi
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Correspondence to Rasoul Rahmani.

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Rahmani, R., Karimi, H., Ranjbari, L. et al. Structure and Thickness Optimization of Active Layer in Nanoscale Organic Solar Cells. Plasmonics 10, 495–502 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9833-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11468-014-9833-x

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