Severe research attempts are still in progress to improve the performance of polyaniline (PAni) based photoactive layers as one of the cheapest materials used for manufacturing organic solar cells. Herein, polymer solar cells were fabricated with ITO/(PAni-TiO2)/Au system. The photoactive layers (PAni-TiO2) were treated with a hydrogen-plasma discharge for low processing time of 0, 3 and 5 min to enhance the synthesized solar cells efficiency. The morphology, micro structure and optical properties of the prepared samples and plasma treated nanocomposite layers were investigated and discussed. The performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) cell samples have been systematically investigated before and after plasma treatment. The absorption and optical band gap energy is increased after the treated PAni-TiO2 photoactive layers. It is found that, the efficiency was enhanced to 0.7% after 5 min of hydrogen plasma process compared to 0.36% for the pristine cell. The efficiency increase is ascribed to a structural change that accompanied by a rapid increase in surface roughness, which leaded to a decrease in the reflected photons and in turn an increase in the produced charge carriers.
To improve the performance of organic solar cells by enhancing the properties of the photoactivated nanocomposite layer, the UV irradiation process was used to activate titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs). Herein, polymer solar cells were fabricated with FTO/(PAni-TiO2)/Ag system. A series of mixed polyaniline (PAni) with 20% of activated TiO2 NPs at different processing times was used to form PAni-TiO2 nanocomposite films. The structural evolution, surface characteristics, optical and electrical properties of PAni-TiO2 films have been investigated. XRD patterns showed that the UV treatment of TiO2 NPs increased the crystallite from 18.35 to 24.1 nm and the degree of crystallinity increased by 5.6%. The irradiated PAni-TiO2 films showed a rougher and more porous surface compared to the untreated one. Moreover, the adhesion force and electrical conductivity of the treated nanocomposite films at 8 h improved to be 137 mN/m and 6.62 S/m, respectively. Incorporation of activated TiO2 NPs exposure to UV for different times from 0 to 8 h with the PAni matrix enhanced the current density (Jsc) of PAni-TiO2 based nanocomposite solar cells from 3.11 to 4.83 (mA/cm2) and their efficiency from 0.33 to 0.85%. The increase in the solar cell efficiency is mostly ascribed to a structural change accompanied by a rapid increase in surface roughness, which led to a decrease in the reflected photons and thus an increase in the charge carriers produced. These results revealed the effect of surface UV irradiation of TiO2 NPs on their structural properties and the electronic contact between PAni and TiO2 NPs, which greatly influenced the amount of carrier transport within the PAni-TiO2 composites.
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