Optical and electrical properties of short-pitch plasmonic solar cells with oblique incidence

The optical and electrical properties of organic solar cells (OSCs) with short-pitch metallic gratings introduced in conventional OSCs are investigated in the case of oblique incidence. Finite-difference frequency-domain (FDFD) method is applied to solve the Maxwell's equations and semiconductor equations for obtaining the optical and electrical properties of OSCs. It is found the light absorption is greatly enhanced due to surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is excited by introducing short-pitch gratings. Meanwhile, short-circuit current and power conversion efficiency have been increased accordingly. With the increase of incident angle, the light absorption decreases instead. Since the absorption decreases with the increase of incident angle, the electrical properties (short-circuit current and power conversion efficiency) obviously have been reduced. These results contribute to better understanding both optical and electrical properties of OSCs.