Influence of PEDOT:PSS Doping on the Performance of Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

Fabrication of Organic Solar Cells (OSC) using PEDOT:PSS, has been focussed on the formation of the four-layered configuration of : ITO / PEDOT:PSS / P3TH:PC60 BM / LiF with Al metal layers its electrode. The active layer comprised P3TH:PC60 BM, where P3HT formed the donor and PC60 BM the acceptor components. Interestingly, it has been observed that the OSCs fabricated from ethylene glycol doped PEDOT:PSS depicted Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of about 2 times more than that of OSCs made from pure PEDOT:PSS. After optimizing process parameters(~ 16% of DMF, ~10% of DMSO, and ~ 12% EG in PEDOT:PSS) and continued loading of doped components, the conductivity reflected a decreasing trend. Such a phenomenon was attributed to an increasing distance between the successive conductive grain/domain, which has been explained based on Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). Moreover, stress has been made on the inter-junction behavior of carrier transport, particularly the hole conduction mechanism. Further, the perovskite-based solar cell has been compared and discussed to understand material behavior and device performance better.