Nanocomposition of PEDOT:PSS with metal phthalocyanines as promising hole transport layers for organic photovoltaics

PEDOT:PSS is one of the most widely used materials as a hole selective layer in organic photovoltaics due to its easy processing and high reproducibility. Unfortunately, the material is limited when testing new donor:acceptor systems due to its intrinsic frontier energy levels which typically leads to energy losses due to inadequate energy level alignment and presence of resistive losses. In this work, PEDOT:PSS:metal phthalocyanines nanocomposite thin films are formulated and used as hole transport layer for organic solar cells (OSCs). PEDOT:PSS is formulated with H2Pc, CuPc, CoPc and ZnPc metal phthalocyanines (MPc) with nanobelt morphology which confers the compatibility with the active layer. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to study the morphology and structure of nanocomposite films, respectively. OSCs based on PEDOT:PSS:MPc nanocomposite films were fabricated and the effect of hybrid hole transport layer with various phthalocyanines on photovoltaics properties was studied. Overall, nanocomposition of PEDOT:PSS with metal phthalocyanines improves the final power conversion efficiency of solar cells by 20% by a reduction of the resistive losses due to inadequate energy level alignment. The addition of metal phthalocyanines to PEDOT:PSS is a promising method for tailor-made hole transport materials for new donor:acceptor systems to improve their efficiencies.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume