PLASMA TREATMENT OF ELECTROPHORETICALLY
DEPOSITED CARBON NANOTUBE TRANSPARENT ANODES
FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIC SOLAR CELLS
D. Bagnis1, L. Valentini1, R. Cagnoli2, F. Mengoni1, A. Mucci2, L. Schenetti2, J.M. Kenny1
1Dip.
di Ingegneria Civile e Ambientale, Università di Perugia, NIPLAB-INSTM UdR Perugia, Pentima Bassa 21,
Terni, 05100 (TR) - ITALY
2Dip.
di Chimica, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Campi, 183, Modena, 41100 (MO) - ITALY
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Our Device Architecture
•
Fluorine Doped Tin Oxide (FTO) (Tec Glass 15®, surface resistance 14/sq) was
immersed into a nanotube suspension of CH3CN and kept parallel to an opposite
g o l d
•
e l e c t r o d e
( 2
c m
a p a r t ) .
A dc voltage of +4 V was applied to the FTO electrode maintaining the gold plate at
g
r
o
u
n
d
the deposition of carbon nanotube films was observed on the positive electrode.
•
After electrodeposition, the e-SWCNT thin films were plasma treated in oxygen or
C
•
F
a
4
t
m
o
s
p
h
e
r
e
.
The photosensitive PTCOOH film was deposited by drop-casting the THF solution
o
f
t
h
e
p
o
l
y
m
e
r
.
Poly[7-(thien-3-ylsulfanyl)heptanoicacid]-co-thiophene
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Plasma Induced Fragmentation of Carbon Nanotube
FESEM images of three different hybrid anodes:
(a) e-SWCNT/FTO,
(b) CF4 plasma treated e-SWCNT/FTO and
(c) Oxygen plasma treated e-SWCNT/FTO
Transmittance in the visible and near-infrared regions
for e-SWCNT/FTO,
CF4 plasma treated e-SWCNT/FTO
and Oxygen plasma treated e-SWCNT/FTO.
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Height topography (left pictures) and phase
topography (right pictures) AFM images (8X8 mm2)
of PTCOOH / FTO.
PTCOOH / CF4 plasma treated
e-SWCNT / FTO.
PTCOOH / oxygen plasma treated
e-SWCNT / FTO.
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PTCOOH
e-SWCNTs
Al
Glass
FTO
Active Area
Samples
VOC
[V]
JSC
[mA/cm2]
FF
h
[%]
PTCOOH / FTO
0.48
0.045
0.25
0.01
PTCOOH /
e-SWNTs / FTO
0.75
0.23
0.22
0.05
AM 1.5G (76 mW/cm2)
J–V curve under illumination for the organic solar
cell prepared with neat FTO anode.
J–V curve under illumination for the organic solar
cell prepared with oxygen plasma treated eSWCNTs/FTO anode.
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CONCLUDING REMARKS
• It was found that a surface plasma treatment of the SWCNT anodes leads to the formation of an
absorptive nanostructure which collects more charges from the polymer than that of the neat FTO in
contact with the polymer.
• We have demonstrated that PTCOOH can be drop-casted onto a SWCNT electrode thin film to form a
new type of functional nanostructure.
• The excellent conductivity and the semiconducting behaviour of the nanocomposite are envisaged to
make it very useful for the development of electronic micro-devices for practical applications.
• We propose the use of electrophoretically deposited SWCNT thin films as anodes in polymer solar cells.
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