Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate films with low conductivity and low acidity through a treatment of their solutions with probe ultrasonication and their application as hole transport layer in polymer solar cells and perovskite solar cells

Shupeng Zhang, Zhimeng Yu, Pengcheng Li, Bichen Li, Furkan Halis Isikgor, Donghe Du, Kuan Sun*, Yijie Xia, Jianyong Ouyang

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    57 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) has been widely used as the hole transport material in optoelectronic devices. To avoid the cross talk among different crossbars, PEDOT:PSS with low conductivity is required. It thus has a high loading of the non-conductive PSSH. The PSSH-to-PEDOT weight ratio is 6 for Clevios P VP Al 4083 that is the most popular polymer as the hole transport layer. However, the acidic PSSH brings severe problems to the device stability and performance. Here, PEDOT:PSS solutions with low acidity can be prepared through a facile treatment of PEDOT:PSS solution by probe ultrasonication. Two grades of PEDOT:PSS, Clevios PH1000 and Clevios P, with a PSSH-to-PEDOT weight ratio of 2.5 were treated by probe ultrasonication. The ultrasonication can lower the viscosity and the colloidal sizes of PEDOT:PSS solutions and conductivity of PEDOT:PSS films. The pH value of probe-ultrasonicated Clevios P was 2.12, higher than that (1.77) of pristine Clevios P VP Al 4083. The ultrasonication-treated PEDOT:PSS solutions were used as hole transport layer in polymer solar cells and perovskite solar cells. The photovoltaic performances of these solar cells are comparable to that of control devices employing Clevios P VP Al 4083 PEDOT:PSS as the hole transport layer.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)149-156
    Number of pages8
    JournalOrganic Electronics
    Volume32
    DOIs
    StatePublished - May 1 2016

    Bibliographical note

    Funding Information:
    The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Education - Singapore ( R-284-000-113-112 ). S. Zhang thanks China Scholarship Council for the scholarship ( 201303070320 ), Natural Science Foundation of China ( 51402151 ) and Zijin Intelligent Program by Nanjing University of Science and Technology . K. Sun acknowledges Chongqing University for start-up fund under the “One Hundred Talent” programme ( 0212001104431 ) and Natural Science Foundation of China ( 61504015 ).

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Keywords

    • Acidity
    • PEDOT:PSS
    • Perovskite solar cells
    • Polymer solar cells
    • Ultrasonication

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • Biomaterials
    • General Chemistry
    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Materials Chemistry
    • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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