Usage of boric acid in the production of PEDOT:PSS film

Abstract

The invention relates to production method of PEDOT:PSS film which comprises the steps of preparing substrate, preparing the mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS prepare on the substrate surface.

Claims

1. A production method of PEDOT:PSS film characterized by comprising process steps of; a) Preparing substrate b) Preparing the mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS via adding boric acid (H.sub.3BO.sub.3) to the PEDOT:PSS mixture at a concentration of 0-5 mg/ml wherein the concentration is more than 0 mg/ml and wherein the concentration is less or equal to 5 mg/ml c) Coating the prepared mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS on the substrate surface.

2. The production method of PEDOT:PSS film according to claim 1 characterized in that in the process step b, boric acid (H.sub.3BO.sub.3) is added to the PEDOT:PSS mixture at a concentration of 0-1.75 mg/ml.

3. The production method of PEDOT:PSS film according to claim 2 characterized in that, in the process step b, boric acid (H.sub.3BO.sub.3) is added to the PEDOT:PSS mixture at a concentration of 1.25 mg/ml.

4. The production method of PEDOT:PSS film according to claim 1 characterized in that preparing substrate mentioned in the process step called a comprises a process step of: Cleaning in the ultrasonic bath before coating.

Description

THE FIGURES WHICH HELP FOR UNDERSTANDING OF THE INVENTION

(1) FIG. 1: It is the view of the molecular structure of PEDOT:PSS.

(2) FIG. 2: It is the view of the molecular structure of boric acid.

(3) FIG. 3: It is the resistance change graph of PEDOT:PSS films without any additive and doped with boric acids having different concentrations.

(4) FIG. 4: It is the view of schematic structure of the solar cells produced in a preferred body of the invention.

(5) The figures do not need to be scaled certainly and unnecessary details for understanding of the present invention may be neglected. In addition; the elements which are at least significantly identical or have at least significantly identical functions are shown with the same number.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(6) In this detailed description; preferred body of the disclosed usage of boric acid in the production of PEDOT:PSS film of the invention are described only for better understanding of the invention such that it does not create any limiting effect.

(7) The invention is the PEDOT:PSS film whose morphology, conductivity and stability are increased with higher efficiency, stability and low costs than PEDOT:PSS films produced at the state of the art by adding boric acid additive with different concentrations (preferred addition proportions are 0-5 mg/ml) to the PEDOT:PSS film.

(8) To achieve the aims stated above, the process steps used for the production of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS layer are as follows: I) Preparing substrate,
(cleaning said substrate in the ultrasonic bath before coating) II) Preparing the mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS
(adding boric acid to the PEDOT:PSS solution of said PEDOT:PSS:H3B03 mixture) III) Coating the mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS prepared on the substrate surface

(9) The mixture of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS may be coated via one of the common methods like spin coating, dipping, casting, injecting, spraying, spreading or printing.

(10) Said PEDOT:PSS film is used in many areas such as electronic devices, medical, textile, photographic film, antistatic coating and printing technologies. IV) Performing characterization tests of the boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS films produced V) To achieve the aims stated above, producing electronic device comprising the boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS layer and performing its characterization tests

(11) The electronic device preferred in the invention is solar cell.

(12) Boric acid is an industrial waste with very low cost which is obtained from boron minerals (FIG. 2). This waste is an important primary product in the boron sector and its production processes contribute significantly to the environmental effects.

(13) It has been seen, at the measurements conducted on the purpose of determination of the effect of boric acid on the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS film (FIG. 3), that boric acid provides 5-20% increase in the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS film up to a certain concentration of boric acid (1.75 mg/ml).

(14) The boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS film coated on ITO is used in the structure of solar cell in the work performed for determination of the effect of boric acid doped PEDOT:PSS film on the performance of the electronic device. As a result; it is seen that efficiencies of solar cells produced increase by 20% and the stability of the cells is more than the cells in which boric acid is not used. It is determined that this increase which arises in the device performance results from the fact that boric acid provides improvement in the work function and morphology of ITO. The structure of the solar cell produced is in the form of ITO/PEDOT:PSS:H.sub.3BO.sub.3/Active layer/Metal (FIG. 4).

(15) A reference structure in which boric acid is not used is produced for determination of the effect of boric acid on the photovoltaic cell. The reference device structure is shown in the form of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/Active layer/Metal.

(16) Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics are measured with Keithley 2400 power source under 100 mW/cm.sup.2 (AM. 1.5 G) irradiation. The cell parameters calculated for determination of the effect of boric acid on the characteristics of the solar cell are given in Table 1.

(17) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 The photovoltaic parameters of the solar cells comprising buffer layer of PEDOT:PSS which comprises boric acid with different concentrations Concentration of boric acid V.sub.oc in PEDOT:PSS (mg/ml) (Volt) J.sub.sc (mA/cm.sup.2) FF PCE % 0 0.535 8.75 38.3 1.79 0.625 0.525 8.00 36.5 1.53 1.25 0.602 7.57 46.9 2.14 2.50 0.612 6.37 45.8 1.78 3.75 0.620 7.00 42.2 1.83 5.00 0.640 5.10 39.0 1.27

(18) As seen in Table 1, boric acid increases the efficiency of the cell by 20%. Also, it causes a significant increase in the open circuit voltage (V.sub.oc) and fill factor (FF).

(19) The subject PEDOT:PSS film of the invention can be used in military services, telecommunication, automated entrance control systems, medical equipment, antistatic coating, printing technologies, touchscreen, aircraft, ship and automotive industries. In these fields; it is applied as layer or coating for energy, illumination, highly stable and homogeneous coating systems.