Applied Physics A (2023) 129:96

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06349-4

Hybrid silver/silver‑oxide nanoparticles doped hole transport layer

for efficient photon harvesting in organic solar cells
Alemayehu G. Waketola1,2 · Fekadu G. Hone1 · Genene T. Mola1,3 · Saheed O. Oseni3,4 · Hezron Ogutu5 ·
Newayemedhin A. Tegegne1 

Received: 5 December 2022 / Accepted: 20 December 2022 / Published online: 11 January 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH, DE part of Springer Nature 2023

Abstract
Plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) are employed in this investigation to assist in the enhancement of photon harvest in organic
solar cells (OSCs). OSCs based on the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and (6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester
(PCBM) were prepared by incorporating hybrid silver/silver-oxide (Ag/Ag2O) NPs in the commonly used hole transport layer
(HTL), PEDOT:PSS, in a conventional device geometry. The conductivity of PEDOT: PSS was improved by 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O
NP doping. The optical absorption and aggregation of P3HT in the active layer film were also found to be improved when
Ag/Ag2O NPs were incorporated in PEDOT: PSS. Consequently, the power conversion efficiency of the P3HT: PCBM-based
OSCs was improved from 3.06 to 5.20% upon the incorporation of 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O in the HTL. This enormous improve-
ment is mainly attributed to a significant increment in ­JSC due to the synergistic improvement in exciton generation, exciton
dissociation, charge collection, and dissociation probability in the device due to localized surface Plasmon resonance and
scattering by the NPs.

Keywords  Nanoparticles · Plasmonics · Organic solar cells · Hole transport layer

1 Introduction major contributors to this advancement include the intro-

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are a promising renewable
energy sources to alleviate the increasing demand for
clean and alternative energy sources due to their light-
weight and easier processing techniques. The OSC's
research has advanced that high power conversion effi-
ciency (PCE) exceeding 18% [1] has been realized. The
* Newayemedhin A. Tegegne
newaye.medhin@aau.edu.et
1
Department of Physics, Addis Ababa University,
1176 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
2
Department of Physics, Kotebe University of Education,
31248 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3
School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu
Natal, Pietermaritzburg Campus, Private Bag X01,
Scottsville 3209, South Africa
4
Department of Physics, Lagos State University, Lagos,
Nigeria
5
Department of Chemistry, Universities South Africa, Office
Hatfields Office Park, 1267, Pretorius Street, Hatfield,
Pretoria, South Africa
duction of novel organic donors and acceptors, suitable
electron/hole transport layers, and improvements in device
geometry. The motivation to the synthesis of new polymers
is mainly driven by their broad absorption and matching
energy levels for efficient charge transfer in the active
layer. Poly3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) is one of the most
studied wide band gap polymer that has an absorption
that extends to 650 nm, making its highest ideal current
generated being around 17 mA/cm 2 [2] for a thickness
of around 120 nm. Further increase in the thickness of
P3HT-based OSCs will favor recombination due to the
short electron–hole diffusion lengths, which are typically
less than 140 nm, making the enhancement in PCE of such
devices difficult which is usually less than 3% [3]. The
thickness of the P3HT: PCBM active layer is limited due
to recombination. Light trapping mechanisms, such as
localized surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) effects from
sub-wavelength metallic nanoparticles (NPs), such as Ag
and Au and scattering particles can effectively increase the
optical path length of the incident light in the active layer
of OSCs without the need to increase the physical thick-
ness [4, 5]. Several reports showed the improvement of

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Page 2 of 8
the performance of OSCs by incorporating metallic nano-
particles (NPs) into the active layer and the hole/electron
transport layers, or both [6–8]. However, incorporation of
NPs in the active layer is challenging due to the disrup-
tion of charge percolation paths, which causes high charge
recombination [9]. The incorporation of NPs in the elec-
tron/hole transport layers (ETL or HTL) is relatively easier
while the LSPR effect can still be harnessed to enhance
the PCE of OSCs.
A number of HTLs that include metal oxides, such as
MoO 3 and organic polymeric materials, such Poly(bis(4-
phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine(PTAA) and,
poly(3,4 ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)
(PEDOT:PSS)[10] were employed in OSCs. Because of its
high electrical conductivity, good light transmission, and
energy level that is close to the highest occupied molecular
orbital (HOMO) of many donor polymers PEDOT:PSS
is the widely used HTLlayer[11, 12]. Recently, Ali et al.
reported that when Ag NPs are incorporated in PEDOT:
PSS, copper Phthalocyanine/C60 bilayer OSCs exhibit
efficient light trapping due to dispersed incident light at
wide angles in the active layer [13]. Ag NPs have a high
potential to improve the PCE of OSC due to their unique
LSPR effect [14]. However, it is not always easy to find
pure Ag NPs with simple solution processing techniques
due to oxidation. Plasmonic resonance of the Ag/Ag 2O
hybrid is reported by Lynn et  al. for medical applica-
tions [15]. However, the application of the hybrid Ag/
Ag 2O in OSCs has not been widely investigated, prob-
ably due to the disruption of charge percolation when
used in the active layer. Adding Ag NP to PEDOT: PSS
HTLincreases its conductivity [16]. PEDOT, in an insu-
lating PSSmatrix, mainly determines its conductivity by
hopping hole polarons between PEDOT-rich grains, so
the hybrid Ag/Ag2O might also have a similar effect. For
the PEODT: PSSlayer to conducting efficiently the NPs
should be arranged so that the hopping of polarons is not
disrupted [17, 18]. The effect of the NPs on the charge
hopping transport is also a crucial parameter that needs
to be explored to further employ these particles in OSCs.
In this contribution, solution-processed Ag/Ag2O hybrid
NPs was embedded in PEDOT: PSS layer to enhance the
PCE of P3HT: PCBM-based OSCs by more than 40%. The
mechanism for this enormous increment is systematically
investigated by probing the PEDOT: PSS layer, PEDOT:
PSS/P3HT: PCBM stacks, and finally the full device. An
improved conductivity of PEDOT: PSS layer, enhanced light
trapping due to LSPR and scattering when Ag/Ag2O NP is
embedded in PEDOT: PSS were found to play major roles in
the improved PCE of P3HT: PCBM-based OSCs. The results
of this work will open the door to the facile improvement of
PCE of OSCs using easily-processed NPs by effective light
trapping mechanisms.
13
A. G. Waketola et al.
2 Materials and methods
2.1 Synthesis and characterization of Ag/Ag2O NP
Using a modified version of Turkevich's method [19],
hybrid silver/silver-oxide (Ag/AgO 2) NPs were synthe-
sized by reducing silver nitrate ­(AgNO3) with sodium cit-
rate ­(Na3C6H5O7). Analytical grade chemicals were used
without further purification. To achieve the desired hybrid
nanoparticles, both the chemical bath temperature and its
pH were optimized. In a typical experiment, 50 mL of
a colorless 0.001 M ­AgNO 3 solution was poured into a
500 mL glass beaker and heated under constant stirring
until the appropriate temperature was reached. To this
solution, 5 ml of 1% trisodium citrate was added dropwise
until the color changed to pale yellow and then to brown.
This color change took a few minutes, and it is also evi-
dence of the formation of the nanoparticles. The resultant
brown solution was removed from the hotplate and allowed
to cool to room temperature. Then the hybrid Ag/Ag2O
was collected after filtering the cooled solution and drying
it for further characterization. The crystal structure of the
prepared NPs was studied by a Shimadzu Lab XRD-6100
diffractometer with ­CuKα ( 𝜆 = 0.154 nm) radiation that
operated at 30 mA and 40 kV in 2θ values between 10º
and 80º at 25 °C.
2.2 Solar cell device fabrication
and characterization
All materials used in the preparation of OSCs were
obtained from Ossila Ltd. A transparent conductive glass
substrate made of indium tin oxide (ITO) with a sheet
resistance of 15Ω/sq was used. These substrates were
washed successively with a substrate cleaner, deionized
water, acetone, and isopropyl alcohol, and finally treated
with a UV ozone chamber for 30 minutes. The Ag/Ag2O
NPs powder was added to the aqueous PEDOT: PSS solu-
tion in weight ratios of 0, 1, 3, and 5 wt% NPs and soni-
cated for 30 min to disperse it well in the solution. These
solutions were spin-coated on the precleaned ITO sub-
strates at a speed of 3000 rpm for 60 seconds, followed by
annealing at 130 °C for 10 minutes to remove any water.
The active layer was prepared from a P3HT: PCBM (1:1)
blend in dichlorobenzene at a concentration of 20 mg/
mL and spin-coated at 1000 rpm for 60 seconds to form
a homogeneous film. The top electrode (aluminum) was
metalized by thermal evaporation to complete the OSCs
device. Finally, the full devices were annealed in an
argon environment at 100°C for 15 minutes to modify the
morphology of the active layer and remove any residual
Hybrid silver/silver‑oxide nanoparticles doped hole transport layer for efficient photon…
organic solvent. The thickness of the active layer was
measured to be 80 nm using a Dektak profilometer. The
devices' performances were evaluated using a Keithley
2400 source meter and a photo-emission tech solar simu-
lator model SS50AAA under AM 1.5 illumination.
2.3 Optical and conductivity characterization
The absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the
films prepared were recorded using a Perkin Elmer Lambda
19 UV−Vis/NIR spectrophotometer and a HORIBA Fluro-
max-4 spectrofluorometr, respectively. The Ecopia HMS-
5300 Hall effect measurement system was used to measure
the conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS layer with and without
Ag/Ag2O NPs films prepared on silicon wafers. A field emis-
sion transmission electron microscope (TEM) model JEOL
JEM-2100F was used to image the synthesized NPs.
3 Results and discussion
The synthesized NP was characterized using XRD as shown
in Fig. 1a, revealing the presence of the hybrid Ag/Ag2O
NPs with the Joint Committee on Powder Diffraction Stand-
ards (JCPDS card number 041-01104)[20, 21]. Using the
Debye−Scherer equation [22], the average crystallite size
of the NPs was determined to be 19.33 nm. All other lattice
parameters of the synthesized Ag/Ag2O NPs are shown in
the supporting information, Table S1. The TEM images of
Ag/Ag2O NPs confirmed that the NPs have spherical shapes
with a particle size of 21 nm (Fig. 1b). The NPs have an
absorption between 300 and 450  nm due to the surface
Fig. 1  a XRD b TEM image of Ag/Ag2O NPs
Page 3 of 8  96
Plasmon resonance (SPR) of AgNPs [23], making them suit-
able for an enhancement of absorption by a P3HT-based
active layer (Figure S1)
The transmittance of HTLs prepared by incorporating 0,
1, 3, and 5 wt% Ag/Ag2O NPs in PEDOT: PSS, hereafter
named PEODT:PSS:0, PEDOT:PSS:1, PEDOT:PSS:3, and
PEDOT:PSS:5 coated on ITO or glass, respectively, were
recorded as shown in Fig. 2a. The result revealed that the
transmittance of the pristine HTL was reduced by less than
5% with the incorporation of Ag/Ag2O NPs, confirming that
sufficient light will reach the active layer for photo genera-
tion. Besides, the transmitted light, the scattering effect of
the NPs in the HTL is another mechanism to effectively
couple the incoming light to the active layer. The Raman
spectra of PEDOT:PSS without and with Ag/Ag2O depicted
in Fig. 2b revealed an intense band at 1441 ­cm−1 due to the
symmetric stretching mode of C–C in the thiophene ring.
The intensity of this Raman peak was found to increase sig-
nificantly upon incorporation of 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O NPs in the
PEDOT: PSS layer while the peak position remained the
same. This can be due to the surface enhanced Raman scat-
tering as a result of enhanced electric field on PEDOT:PSS
by the NPs[24, 25].
This enhanced local electromagnetic field in the
PEDOT:PSS due to the incorporation of Ag/Ag2O NPs
is expected to improve the photon harvest of the active
layer. The detailed assignment of the Raman Signatures is
shown in Table S2. The electrical properties of Ag/Ag2O
NPs doped PEDOT:PSS layer were studied using temper-
ature-dependent conductivity measurements, as shown in
Fig. 2(c). Charge transport in PEDOT in the insulating PSS
matrix can only be achieved by the formation of polarons
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Page 4 of 8 A. G. Waketola et al.

Fig. 2  a Transmittance of PEDOT:PSS:n/ITO/Glass b Raman Spectra of PEDOT:PSS with and without Ag/Ag2O NPs c temperature-dependent
conductivity and d room temperature conductivity and VRH Fitting parameters of PEDOT:PSS:n films

in the polymer chains [26]. Since the charge carrier in were embedded in it, with a threefold increase in conductiv-
PEDOT:PSS hops from one localized state to another neigh- ity at a 3 wt% NPs concentration. Owing to the high con-
boring state, its temperature-dependent conductivity follows ductivity of the embedded Ag/Ag2O NP with PEDOT: PSS
the variable range hopping model (VRH) given by Eq. 1 [27] layer, it could be used as electrodes in ITO-free solar cells,
)𝛂 lowering production costs further. This increase could be
(1)
(
𝜎 = 𝝈 0 exp −𝐓𝟎 ∕𝐓 due to improved hope transport among localized PEDOT-
rich domains.
where 𝜎0 and ­T0 are the fitting parameters. The param-
To elucidate our argument, the hopping barrier height
eter 𝜎0, describes the conductivity of the materials at in nite
­(T0) of the charge carriers in the PEDOT: PSS layer was
temperature while T ­ 0 is a material-dependent parameter that
extracted using VRH model (Fig. 2d (red)). The minimum
is interpreted.
­T0 value was found for the 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O NPs embedded
as the effective energy barrier height of hopping among
in PEDOT: PSS, confirming the improved hopping probabil-
localized states of different energies [28]. The exponent 𝜶
ity between conducting sites due to a reduced hopping bar-
=1/(1 + D) is the signature of variable range hopping (VRH)
rier. Despite having higher room temperature conductivity,
in D dimensions, and it is assumed to be 0.5 in one-dimen-
the barrier height for a 5 wt% Ag/Ag2O NPs concentration
sional hoping transport, such as in polymers. The room tem-
is greater than that of the pristine PEDOT: PSS film. This
perature conductivity and the VRH fitting parameters for
might be due to the increased distance between PEDOT-rich
different concentrations of Ag/Ag2O NPs in PEDOT:PSS
clusters at higher concentrations due to the agglomeration
are shown in Fig. 2d. The room temperature conductivity
of the NPs, which will decrease the probability of polaron
of pristine PEDOT:PSS was improved when Ag/Ag2O NPs
hopping [29].

13
Hybrid silver/silver‑oxide nanoparticles doped hole transport layer for efficient photon… Page 5 of 8  96

3.1 Optical Properties of P3HT: PCBM films coated

on Ag/Ag2O NPs doped HTL

Another key aspect that affects the efficiency of solar cells

is the absorption of the active layer materials. The absorb-
ance of P3HT: PCBM coated on PEDOT: PSS doped with
different concentrations of Ag/Ag2O NPs is shown in Fig. 3.
A clear increase in the absorbance of the active layer below
500 nm, which is in the region of the plasmonic resonance
frequency of Ag/Ag2O NPs, is observed. This led to the con-
clusion that the incoming electromagnetic field is enhanced
due to LSPR. In addition, the absorption of P3HT: PCBM
was enhanced above 500 nm. Since the LSPR of Ag/Ag2O
NP is below 500 nm, the enhancement in the region between
450 and 650 nm is mainly due to the scattering effect of the
transmitted light to the active layer due to Ag/Ag2O NPs
[30]. Hence, both light scattering and near-field enhance-
ment due to LSPR are responsible for the observed increase
in the absorption of the P3HT: PCBM layer when coated on
Ag/Ag2O NPs doped PEDOT: PSS layer.
3.2 Photovoltaic properties
The J−V characteristics of plasmonic OSCs prepared in a
device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS:n/P3HT:PC60BM/
Al (n = 0, 1, 3, and 5 wt% Ag/Ag2ONPs in PEDOT:PSS)
recorded under 1-sun illumination is shown in Fig. 4, and
the corresponding photovoltaic parameters are summarized
in Table 1. The open circuit voltage ­(Voc) of the devices
exhibited negligible change as the concentration of Ag/
Ag2O NPs in the HTL increased, confirming that the work
function of PEDOT: PSS remained the same.. On the other
hand, the short circuit current (­ JSC) of P3HT: PCBM-based
devices has increased with the incorporation of 1 wt%,
Fig. 4  J−V characteristics of OSCs with geometry; ITO/
PEDOT:PSS:n/P3HT:PC60BM/Al (inset) (n is wt% of Ag/Ag2O NPs
in the HTL) under AM 1.5G illumination at 100 mW/cm.2
with the maximum of 16.62 mA/cm2 obtained at 3 wt%
Ag/Ag2O NPs in PEDOT:PSS, resulting in a significant
increase in PCE. Upon further increasing the NP concen-
tration to 5 wt%, it started to drop down to 12.24 mA/cm2.
The increased ­JSC from 10.11 mA/cm2 in the pristine device
to 10.38, 16.62, and 12.24 mA/cm2 in the devices prepared
with the incorporation of 1, 3, and 5 wt% NP, respectively,
is mainly due to the increased absorption as shown in Fig. 3.
The ideal maximum current in the pristine device was simu-
lated using the transfer matrix method (TMM), assuming
a 100% internal quantum efficiency, and was found to be
12.22 mA/cm2 as shown in Figure S2. However, upon the
incorporation of 3 wt% NP, the ­JSC of Plamsonic OSCs
exceeded the maximum ideal current. Similar results are
reported in P3HT: PCBM-based OSCs using different plas-
monic NPs[31, 32]. This is due to enhanced light trapping
by multiple scattering at the hole transport layer which
increased the optical path length of the incident light in the
photo-active layer (Fig. 4 (inset)). Consequently, the internal
quantum efficiency will increase resulting in a higher J­ SC.
In addition, the higher conductivity of the HTL upon Ag/

Table 1  Photovoltaic Parameters of ITO/PEDOT:PSS:n/P3HT:

PC60BM/Al OSCs
n = Ag/ Voc(V) Jsc(mA FF(%) PCEmax (a) Rs(Ω ­cm2)
Ag2O NPs cm 2) (%)
conc. (%)

0 0.55 9.93 56.13 3.06 (2.99) 837.5

1 0.52 10.51 58.72 3.23 (3.14) 767.9
3 0.53 16.62 58.62 5.20 (5.05) 626.2
5 0.53 12.24 56.09 3.66 (3.55) 612.1
Fig. 3  Absorption spectra of Glass/PEDOT:PSS:n/P3HT:PCBM with
a
different concentrations of Ag/Ag2O NPs  an average of over 5 devices

13
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Page 6 of 8 A. G. Waketola et al.

Ag2O doping is also another factor that contributed to the depicted in Figure 5a reveals two regions; a region where
efficient collection of charges by reducing the series resist- ­Jph rises linearly at low V
­ eff followed by a region where J­ ph
ance ­(Rs) as shown in Table 1. Consequently, a maximum saturates at high ­Veff.
PCE of 5.20% was achieved at a 3 wt% optimum concentra- The internal electric field is strong enough in the second
tion of Ag/Ag2O NPs in PEDOT: PSS. The slight increase region to dissociate and sweep out all charge carriers, result-
in the FF could also contribute to the increase in PCE of the ing in 100% P(I, V). Consequently, the saturated photocur-
devices after doping the PEDOT: PSS with 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O. rent is reached at the maximum generation rate (­ Gmax), i.e.,
In summary, the PCE of the fabricated devices increased ­Jsat = ­qGmax L where q is elementary charge and L is the
from 3.06% in the pristine OSCs to 3.24, 5.20, and 3.66% thickness of the film (L=80nm) allowing for a direct calcula-
in the devices prepared on PEDOT:PSS:1, PEDOT:PSS:3, tion of the maximum exciton generation rate in the devices
and PEDOT:PSS:5 HTLs, respectively, mainly due to the as summarized in Table 2. The exciton generation rate has
improved photon harvest,, and conductivity of the HTL upon increased from 8.60 x 1­ 021 to 14.29 x 1­ 021 s -1.cm -3 when the
the incorporation of metal/metal-oxide NPs. pristine HTL is replaced by PEDOT: PSS:3 HTL, consistent
with the improved photon harvest due to LSPR and scat-
3.3 Charge generation and exciton dissociation tering in the active layer. These results clearly indicate that
the efficient light trapping that increases the exciton volume
As ­JSC was the primary photovoltaic parameter responsible in the P3HT: PCBM active layer is the main reason for the
for the significant improvement in the PCE of the devices, improved PCE. The probability of dissociation P(E, T)=Jph/
we focused our additional investigation on the cause of the Jst was also found to have a high value of 90% for the device
enhancement in photocurrent generation. The charge gen- prepared on PEDOT:PSS :3 HTL.
eration rate (G(I)) in the active layer upon illumination by The charge generation in a P3HT: PCBM-based OSC
light of intensity (I) and the exciton dissociation/charge col- starts with exciton generation in P3HT, followed by exciton
lection efficiency (P(I, V) determine the photocurrent (­ Jph)
generated in an OSC device of thickness L. As a result, The,
photocurrent, ­Jph=JL-JD, where ­JL and ­JD are currents gener- Table 2  QE, ­Jst and ­Gmax in the OSCs fabricated
ated under illumination and dark, respectively can therefore
Ag/Ag2O QE(%) Jph(mA Jsat(mA Gmax(s P(E,T)(%)
be calculated using Equation 2. NPs (%) cm 2) cm 2) 1
 cm
3
) × ­1021
(2)
( )
Jph Veff = qG(I)P(I, V)L
0 87.05 9.93 11.13 8.60 83.56
where q is an electron charge and ­Veff = V ­ 0-Va, with Va and 1 87.12 10.38 11.93 9.26 87.01
­V0 denoting the applied voltage and the voltage at which 3 88.59 16.62 18.29 14.29 90.86
­Jph=0, respectively. The ­Jph versus ­Veff graph of the devices 5 83.59 12.24 15.29 11.95 80.05

Fig. 5  a ­Jph Vs ­Veff characteristics of OSCs. b PL spectra of Glass/P3HT (olive) and Glass/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM with PEDOT:PSS incor-
porated with different concentration of Ag/Ag2O NPs

13
Hybrid silver/silver‑oxide nanoparticles doped hole transport layer for efficient photon…
quenching when the electron is transferred from the LUMO
of P3HT to the LUMO of PCBM, leaving the hole behind
in the HOMO of the donor. Once the electron and hole are
free, the hole will be transferred into PEDOT: PSS before
it is collected by ITO. If each of these processes is not effi-
cient, there will be recombination losses, thereby reduc-
ing the amount of current that is collected. We, therefore,
investigated the effect of embedding Ag/Ag2O NP in the
PEDOT:PSS on the exciton quenching efficiency (QE) of the
OSCs to further interrogate the increase in J­ SC using steady-
state PL spectroscopy at an excitation of 𝜆 ex = 480 nm, as
shown in Fig. 5b. The QE results for each of the four films
are summarized in Table 2. Consistent with the probabil-
ity of dissociation, the highest QE is found in the OSC
with PEDOT:PSS: 3 HTL confirming the optimized NPs
concentration in the device, which could also increase the
QE. Despite the highly conducting HTL, the device with
PEDOT: PSS: 5 HTL has the lowest QE than the PEDOT:
PSS: 1 HTL. The dissociation probability is determined both
by the exciton dissociation and the collection of free charges.
The device's low probability of dissociation/collection P(E,
T) = ­Jph/Jst is clearly due to its poor QE with PEDOT:PSS:5
HTL. In summary, a simultaneous increase both in dissocia-
tion probability and exciton quenching was observed in the
optimized device with PEDOT: PSS:3 HTL.
4 Charge mobility
In addition to exciton generation and quenching, the device's
short circuit current is determined by its free-charge mobil-
ity. The charge motilities in the devices were extracted from
the space charge limited current region (SCLC) recorded
under dark conditions using the Mott−Gurney model [33].
The field-dependent mobility ( 𝜇 ) and the zero field mobility
( 𝜇o) can be calculated using Eqs. 3, 4, respectively.
√
𝜇 = 𝜇0 exp(𝛾 E) (3)
( √ )
9 V2 V tary material available at https://d​ oi.o​ rg/1​ 0.1​ 007/s​ 00339-0​ 22-0​ 6349-4.
JSCLC = 𝜇0 𝜀𝜀0 3 exp 𝛾
8 L L
where,𝛾 V, and L are the field activation factor at
room temperature, the voltage drop across the film (cor-
rected for the built-in voltage (­ V bi)) and film thickness
(80 nm), respectively. The permittivity of the polymer ( 𝜺 )
and of free space were taken to be 3 and 8.85 × 10 −12
C/V, respectively. The fittings of the SCLC regions of all
the devices with the Mott−Gurney model are shown in
Figure S2 (a-d), and the extracted parameters are sum-
marized in Table 3. With Ag/Ag2O NP embedded HTL,
Page 7 of 8  96
Table 3  Charge transport parameters
Ag/Ag2O NPs Conc. (%) 𝝁0(× ­10–4) 𝜸(× ­10–3)
cm2V−1 ­s−1 (cm/V)1/2
0 2.20 − 2.40
1 2.78 − 2.77
3 5.64 − 2.60
5 3.27 − 2.22
P3HT: PCBM-based OSCs demonstrated enhanced charge
mobility that was commensurate with the increase in con-
ductivity in PEDOT: PSS layers after doping. The field
activation factor in the devices was found to be negative,
indicating that the SCLC decreases with the electric field,
confirming that it follows the Mott−Gurney model.
5 Conclusion
OSCs based on the P3HT: PCBM were fabricated using
pristine and hybrid Ag/Ag 2O NPs doped PEDOT: PSS
HTL. The conductivity of PEDOT: PSS was improved
upon the incorporation of Ag/Ag 2 O NPs due to the
improved hopping of polarons between PEDOT-rich
grains. The absorption of P3HT: PCBM coated on
PEDOT: PSS was enhanced when Ag/Ag 2O NPs were
embedded in the HTL due to LSPR and far-field scat-
tering that effectively trapped the incoming light Conse-
quently, OSCs prepared with Ag/Ag2O NPs embedded in
HTL revealed a significant increment in J­ SC resulting in an
improved PCE from 3.06 to 5.20% upon doping PEDOT:
PSS with 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O NP. Further investigation of
the charge dynamics in the active layer revealed that the
exciton generation, exciton dissociation, charge collection,
and dissociation probabilities in the 3 wt% Ag/Ag2O NPs
doped HTL device were improved, resulting in enhanced
PCE of the plasmonic OSCs.
Supplementary Information  The online version contains supplemen-
(4)
Acknowledgements  This work is based on the support from Organiza-
tion for Women in Science for the developing world (OWSD), Trieste,
Italy. We would also like to acknowledge the International Science Pro-
gram (ISP), Uppsala University, Sweden for providing the laboratory
facilities of the polymer physics laboratory at Addis Ababa University.
Data availability  The raw data of this work is made available based
on the request.
Declarations 
Conflict of interest  The authors claim that there is no known conflict
of interest in this work.
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