Incorporation of Gold Nanodots Into Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):Poly(styrene sulfonate) for an Efficient Anode Interfacial Layer for Improved Plasmonic Organic Photovoltaics.

In this paper, we demonstrate a simple strategy for the incorporation of gold nanodots (GNDs) into poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) ( PEDOT: PSS) films, towards fabrication of an efficient anode interfacial layer in order to improve the performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells that use a blend of poly(3-hexyl thiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71 butyric acid methyl ester as the organic active layer. We synthesized citrate-stabilized GNDs, with sizes in the range of -20-30 nm, by initially blending them into PEDOT: PSS by aqueous dispersion. The influence of GNDs in the PEDOT: PSS layer on the photovoltaic characteristics of BHJ solar cells was investigated. Our results show that the improved performance is due to the enhanced conductivity and increased interfacial contact area between the PEDOT: PSS and organic active layer, owing to the inclusion of GNDs into the PEDOT: PSS. The BHJ solar cell included with GNDs (0.02 wt%) into PEDOT: PSS exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.92% with an open circuit voltage of 0.61 V, fill factor of 50%, and a short-circuit current density of 9.51 mA/cm2, whereas the pristine device exhibited a PCE of 2.52%.