We attempt to study the effect of gold nanoparticles embedded into the active polymer of regioreguler poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) on the charge kinetic to enhance the performance of bulk-heterojunction solar cell. It has been known that the generation of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) would both increase the photon absorption and improve the efficiency of charge separation. Synthesis of gold nanoparticles stabilized by oleylamine (AuOA) was carried out by reduction method and resulted in the spherical shape of nanoparticles with a diameter size of ~12 nm. The absorbance spectra show the typical of surface plasmon peak of AuOA in solution at ~527 nm. Fabrication of inverted bulk-heterojunction solar cell device was done in the configuration of ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM:AuOA/PEDOT:PSS/Ag. Incorporation of AuOA in polymer solution is clearly detected from the enhanced absorbance peak resulted from UV-Vis measurement and the mix solution of P3HT:PCBM:AuOA is quite stable in the concentration of AuOA less than 10 wt%. In our experiment, fabricated solar cell reveals the enhancement in current density at short circuit condition (Jsc) from 44.57 mA/cm2 to 56.14 mA/cm2 with the addition of 3.9 wt% AuOA in polymer solution along with the enhancement of power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 4.07% to 6.23% as characterized by J-V measurement. In our case, the voltage at open circuit condition (Voc) of the device does not show significant improvement.
