Enhancement of Photoelectric Effect in Organic Dye Thin Film Cells by Surface Plasmon Excitation

Abstract

ABSTRACTPhotoelectric properties have been investigated for the organic dye thin film cells utilizing surface plasmon (SP) excitation. The cells fabricated in this work had a prism/Al thin film/copper phtalocyanine (CuPc) thin film/Ag thin film structure, which was the Kretschmann configuration in the attenuated total reflection (ATR) method. Since the CuPc thin film exhibits p-type conduction, the Schottky and Ohmic contacts can be obtained at the interfaces between the CuPc and Al thin films and between the CuPc and Ag thin films, respectively, and the cells used in this work show photoelectric properties. The ATR and short-circuit photocurrent properties have been simultaneously measured as a function of the incident angles of the laser beams. The experimental and calculated results of the ATR and short-circuit photocurrent properties and the optical absorptions of the organic dye layers were discussed. It was found that the photoelectric effect in the organic dye thin film cells the Kretschmann configuration in the ATR method was enhanced by the SP excitation.