Size-controlled gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared in the presence of different capping materials (sodium citrate, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), and chitosan). The results obtained suggest that the AuNPs were synthesized with different particle size, which is controlled by changing the molar ratio between sodium citrate, (CTAB), and chitosan to Au (III). The catalytic activities of the AuNPs with different capping materials were studied for 4-nitrophenol reduction by NaBH4 as a model reaction. AuNPs with different capping materials is comparable from the value of the apparent rate constant of 4-nitrophenol reduction (0.6 × 10<sup>–3</sup>, 1.9 × 10<sup>–3</sup>, and 2.4 × 10<sup>–3</sup> s<sup>–1</sup>) for sodium citrate, CTAB and chitosan. From the results, it is concluded that, AuNPs catalyzed the electron transfer process between and nitro compounds with all the capping materials used AuNPs capped by chitosan were more active for the reduction than the other two
This work studied the role of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) with different spherical sizes mixed with poly (3, 4-ethylene dioxythiophene): polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS) as a hole transfer layer to enhance the efficiency (ITO/PEDOT:PSS (AuNPs)/CuPc/C60/Al) organic photovoltaic cell (OPV). AuNPs were synthesized using the thermochemical method and the results of the transmission electron microscope (TEM) images showed that the gold nanoparticles mostly dominated by spherical shapes and sizes were calculated in the range (12–23 nm). Measurements of UV-VIS spectra for AuNPs have shown that the surface plasmon resonance shifted to a higher wavelength with decreasing the particle size. Surface morphology and absorption spectra of OPV cells were studied using atomic force microscope and UV-VIS spectrometer techniques. The efficiency of the OPV cell was calculated without and with AuNPs. Efficiency was increased from 0.78% to 1.02% due to the embedded of AuNPs with (12 nm) in PEDOT/PSS. The increase in the light absorption in CuPc is due to the good transparent conducting of PEDOT:PSS and the increase in the electric field around AuNPs embedded in PEDOT:PSS and inbuilt electric field at the interfacial between CuPc and C60 is due to the surface plasmon resonance of AuNPs. The increase in these two factors increase the exciton generation in CuPc, dissociation at the interfacial layer, and charge carrier transfer which increases the collection of electrons and holes at cathode and anode.
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