Metal Nanoparticle-Decorated Two-Dimensional Molybdenum Sulfide for Plasmonic-Enhanced Polymer Photovoltaic Devices

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides have also attracted immense interest because they exhibit appealing electronic, optical and mechanical properties. In this work, we prepared gold nanoparticle-decorated molybdenum sulfide (AuNP@MoS2) through a simple spontaneous redox reaction. Transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the properties of the AuNP@MoS2 nanomaterials. Then we employed such nanocomposites as the cathode buffer layers of organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs) to trigger surface plasmonic resonance, leading to noticeable enhancements in overall device efficiencies. We attribute the primary origin of the improvement in device performance to local field enhancement induced by the effects of localized surface plasmonic resonance. Our results suggest that the metal nanoparticle-decorated two-dimensional materials appear to have great potential for use in high-performance OPVs.