Enhanced Performance and Stability in Polymer Photovoltaic Cells Using Ultraviolet-Treated PEDOT:PSS

Xue-Jian Xu, Li-Ying Yang, Hui Tian, Wen-Jing Qin, Shou-Gen Yin, Fengling Zhang
2013 Chinese Physics Letters  
We investigate the effects of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation treatment with varying irradiation intensities for different treatment times of poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film on the performance and stability of polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and methanofullerene [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blend. Ultraviolet-visible transmission spectra, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, contact angle
more » ... urement, atomic force microscopy and the Kelvin probe method are conducted to characterize the UV-treated PEDOT:PSS film. The results demonstrate that UV treatment can improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and stability of PSCs effectively. The best performance is achieved under 1200 W/cm 2 UV treatment for 50 min. Compared to the control device, the optimized device exhibits enhanced performance with a oc of 0.59 V, sc of 12.3 mA/cm 2 , fill factor of 51%, and PCE of 3.64%, increased by 3.5%, 33%, 8.7% and 50%, respectively. The stability of the PSCs is enhanced by 2.5 times simply through the UV treatment on the PEDOT:PSS buffer layer. The improvement in the device performance and stability is attributed to the improvement in the wettability property and the increase in the work function of the PEDOT:PSS film by UV treatment, while the impact of UV treatment on the transparency of the PEDOT:PSS film is negligible. The strategy of using UV treatment to improve device performance and stability is attractive due to its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and because it is suitable for large-scale commercial production.
doi:10.1088/0256-307x/30/7/077201 fatcat:r5liz35zu5c6fnv7n6t5ghb2e4