Analysis and characterization of surface plasmon enhancement of light absorption in organic solar cells by the transfer matrix method

Surface plasmons enhanced light absorption in organic solar cells based on a photoactive poly(2-methoxyl-5-(2-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1.4-phenylenevinylene):(6.6)- phenyl-C61-butyric-Acid-methylester (MEH-PPV:PCBM), is studied by a computational model based on the transfer matrix method (TMM). Two physical situation with and without the bulk heterojunction film are considered and modeled on a 2D array of silver nanoparticles with a diameter of 40 nm embedded in a 50-nm-thick layer. The numerical simulation results that include optical properties in the wave length range of 350 and 750 nm, present qualitative and quantitative good agreement with previous results obtained by Duche et al (2009) in both conditions. Optical absorption results for incident light at an oblique angle of incidence are also obtained, with the purpose of determining the effect of the angle of incidence on the absorption properties.