Photonic crystal for efficiency enhancement of the semitransparent organic solar cells

Abstract We have designed the semitransparent organic solar cells (STOSCs) with two fullerene materials as active layers. we have used the two-dimensional(2D) photonic crystals (PCs) inside the active layer and investigated the optical and electrical parameters of solar cells. We have utilized the Finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method for our simulation and have shown the effect of 2D photonic crystals in transmission, absorption, short-circuit current density (Jsc), generation rate, and electrical current. We also found that the polymer donorpoly[2,60-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b;3,3-b[dithiophene]-alt-[3-fluoro-2[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b[thiophenediyl] (PTB7- Th) with the visible absorbing fullerene acceptor [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM), PTB7-Th:PC71BM, can be a better choice as an active layer compared with the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM), P3HT:PCBM. This study can be useful for light management in STOSCs.