PEDOT:PSS incorporated silver nanoparticles prepared by gamma radiation for the application in organic solar cells

Abstract

Poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) is a dispersion used as a buffer layer on the ITO electrode in the organic solar cells. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) are incorporated to the dispersion using two different strategies. The first is by reduction of silver ions in the PEDOT:PSS dispersion. Chemical reduction of silver ions using sodium borohydried is compared with reduction using gamma radiation. The TEM and UV-visible spectra indicates that smaller Ag NPs are obtained for the chemical reduction method than those obtained from the radiochemical. The second strategy, is by preparing Ag NPs in polyvinyl pyrolidone (PVP) solution using gamma irradiation then adding them to the PEDOT:PSS dispersion. Layers of the PEDOT:PSS incorporated different concentrations of Ag NPs (1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10%) are formed. The SEM and AFM studies of the layers morphology reveal that smooth morphology on the obtained for layers containing Ag NPs up to concentrations of 4%.

Utilizing Hybrid Plasmon Modes to Probe Nanoparticle-Polymer Interfaces

“…[6][7][8][9] More importantly, a polymer coating can enhance nanoparticle properties such as: biocompatibility, facilitating targeted drug delivery, 10 sensing, 11 and conductivity, allowing for flexible electronics 12 and specific interactions between polymers can even allow directed assembly of nanoparticles. 13 Some of the more interesting applications involve incorporation of conductive 8,9,14 or semi-conducting 15 nanoparticles into a conductive polymer film: this can drastically change the sheet resistance of the film, which in tandem with the increased absorption of light, makes incorporating nanoparticles into these polymers of great interest for organic solar cells. 8,15 However, fine control over nanoparticle embedding and concentration of nanoparticles is necessary in order to minimize charge recombination at the metal sites, which can cause a decrease in external quantum efficiency of the solar cell.…”

“…177 Since only absorbed energy can be converted to heat, having a particle with a large absorption cross-section ( ) is desirable. The power of heat generated ( ) in a nanostructure can be described using Equation 14. Assuming the size of the particle is constant and perfectly spherical, a simple expression for the absorption cross section can be formulated (Equation 15).…”

“…Assuming the size of the particle is constant and perfectly spherical, a simple expression for the absorption cross section can be formulated (Equation 15). 175 = = ( 0 2 ) | 0 | 2 (14) Where, represents the irradiance of the incoming light, , is the refractive index of the medium, 0 , is the plane wave electric field amplitude for the incident light, ( ), is the total electric field amplitude, , is the permittivity of the nanoparticle, and , is the wave vector of propagating light, defined as = , where is the speed of light.…”

“…14 shows the AFM images for a 34.5%/31.0%/34.5% (PS/PMMA/P2VP) polymer blend. Row (Inset) 1 represents the film as cast, the left image is 40x40 μm in size and right is 20x20 μm in size.…”

“… 14,4),. full embedment into the Hill domain is seen, represented by the height of 10 ± 8 nm.Approximately halfway embedding into the Circle domain was seen (34 ± 15 nm), supporting the idea of it being PMMA.…”