PEDOT:PSS Films with Metallic Conductivity through a Treatment with Common Organic Solutions of Organic Salts and Their Application as a Transparent Electrode of Polymer Solar Cells

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 8; no. 18; pp. 11629 - 11638
• Main Authors: Yu, Zhimeng, Xia, Yijie, Du, Donghe, Ouyang, Jianyong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 11-05-2016
• Subjects: polymer solar cells; organic salt; organic solution; conductivity enhancement; PEDOT:PSS
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b00317

A transparent electrode is an indispensable component of optoelectronic devices, and there as been a search for substitutes of indium tin oxide (ITO) as the transparent electrode. Poly­(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene):poly­(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) is a conducting polymer that is very promising as the next generation of materials for the transparent electrode if it can obtain conductivity as high as that of ITO. Here, we report the treatment of PEDOT:PSS with organic solutions to significantly enhance its conductivity. Common organic solvents like dimethylformamide and γ-butyrolactone and common organic salts like methylammonium iodide and methylammonium bromide are used for the organic solutions. The conductivity of pristine PEDOT:PSS films is only ∼0.2 S/cm, and it can be increased to higher than 2100 S/cm. The conductivity enhancement is much more significant than control treatments of PEDOT:PSS films with neat organic solvents or aqueous solutions of the organic salts. The mechanism for the conductivity enhancement is the synergetic effects of both the organic salts and organic solvents on the microstructure and composition of PEDOT:PSS. They induce the segregation of some PSSH chains from PEDOT:PSS. Highly conductive PEDOT:PSS films were studied as the transparent electrode of polymer solar cells. The photovoltaic efficiency is comparable to that with an ITO transparent electrode.