Electrolyte and current density determines the fate of electrodeposited polythiophene from waveguide to photovoltaics

Om Prakash Bajpai, Sujit Kumar, Subhendu Bhandari, Achintya Dhar, Dipak Khastgir, Santanu Chattopadhyay

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Nucleation and growth process of electrodeposited polymer determine its morphology, thus its function and applicability. In this work, we show how minute changes in polymerization condition, like current density and electrolyte concentration, alter nucleation pattern of polythiophene. Different nucleation patterns in turn give rise to different morphology and functional properties. Polythiophene was electrochemically synthesized on indium tin oxide (ITO) using boron trifluoride diethyl etherate (BF3.Et2O) electrolyte. At constant current density (8 μA/cm2), 20 vol% electrolyte gives rise to dendritic structures, while pure electrolyte gives rise to uniform film. Similarly, if current density was increased (0.08–0.4 mA/cm2) in 20 vol% electrolyte, dendritic structures were completely suppressed and again uniform polymer film was obtained. Although electrical properties are compromised in the dendritic sample owing to the higher surface roughness, dendritic structures efficiently guide light and are shown to be a good candidate for photonic and energy applications. On the other hand; uniform polythiophene, obtained at high current density and electrolyte concentration shows enhanced redox capacity and electrical conductivity. Utilizing optical and electrical properties of smooth polythiophene films (without dendrites), basic photovoltaic (PV) device (Glass/ITO/PT/P3HT:PC61BM/Al) was constructed using electrochemically grown polythiophene as Hole-Transporting Layer (HTL). Fabricated device exhibits significant photovoltaic performance with comparable efficiencies of 0.98–1.24%. Such electrochemically grown polythiophene thin films can be a substitute for other HTLs (like PEDOT: PSS) in photovoltaic devices.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)107-119
Number of pages13
JournalSolar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Volume183
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Aug 2018
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018

Funding

Om Prakash Bajpai is thankful to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) (20-6/2009(i)EU-IV), New Delhi, India, for the financial support in the form of individual research fellowships. We are really thankful to Dr. BN Shivakiran Bhaktha and his research student Mr. Subhabrata Ghosh, Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur for helping in the waveguide experiment. I am also thankful to Vasvi Bajpai for her valuable suggestions and help in the work. Om Prakash Bajpai is thankful to Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur , West Bengal, India, and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) ( 20-6/2009(i)EU-IV ), New Delhi, India, for the financial support in the form of individual research fellowships. We are really thankful to Dr. BN Shivakiran Bhaktha and his research student Mr. Subhabrata Ghosh, Department of Physics, IIT Kharagpur for helping in the waveguide experiment. I am also thankful to Vasvi Bajpai for her valuable suggestions and help in the work.

FundersFunder number
Indian Institute of Technology
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research20-6/2009(i)EU-IV
Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
Indian Institute of Technology Mandi

    Keywords

    • Boron
    • Dendritic growth
    • Electrochemical synthesis
    • Polythiophene
    • Solar cell
    • Trifluoride diethyl etherate

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