The pH effect on PEDOT: PSS/GO as a potential hole transport layer
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31349/RevMexFis.72.061004Keywords:
Polymer, Graphene oxide, acidic, basic, characterization, propertiesAbstract
Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT: PSS) with secondary doping has been widely researched as a hole transport layer in solar cells because secondary doping can provide conformational change and improve the properties of PEDOT: PSS. PEDOT: PSS is doped with graphene oxide (GO) to form PEDOT: PSS/GO solution, and then, sodium hydroxide is added into the acidic PEDOT: PSS/GO solution. The novelty of this work relies on the pH effect of PEDOT: PSS/GO, which shows basic condition allows better dispersity of GO in water. The HRTEM result indicates the formation of PEDOT: GO. Besides, the two-point probe results show that both acidic and basic PEDOT: PSS/GO is more conductive than PEDOT: PSS and GO alone. This was due to the transformation of benzoid structure to quinoid structure which has been supported by the lower d-spacings of acidic PEDOT: PSS/GO (3.48 Å) and basic PEDOT: PSS/GO (3.44 Å) compared to PEDOT: PSS (3.56 Å) in the XRD result. Other than that, the UV-Vis absorbance result shows that the PSS chain absorbance peak in basic PEDOT: PSS/GO is around 13% lower than that in acidic PEDOT: GO, indicating better replacement of insulating PSS chain and more successful formation of PEDOT: GO. In the EDX results, the basic PEDOT: PSS/GO shows higher oxygen content (93.34%) than acidic PEDOT: PSS/GO (44.58%) due to the increase of hydroxyl groups of GO in basic conditions caused by NaOH. Besides, the average resistance values of the basic PEDOT: PSS/GO and acidic PEDOT: PSS/GO layers are 3.72E+10 Ω and 1.30E+10 Ω, respectively. The Na+ ion in NaOH resulted in the damages of unreacted PEDOT: PSS, making the basic PEDOT: PSS/GO sample more electrically resistant than the acidic PEDOT: PSS/GO sample. Despite some of the adverse effects of basic PEDOT: GO, it shows the lowest surface roughness (Rq: 2.52 nm) among all potential HTLs investigated, indicating the best deposition on glass and wettability for organic semiconductors (OSCs) which can be applied as a counter electrode in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) application.
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