Investigating the performance of P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells involving gamma-irradiated PEDOT:PSS layer

In this work, we investigated for the first time the characteristics of (poly (3-hexylthiopene) and 6, 6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester) (P3HT:PCBM) blends-based organic solar cell with 1.25?mg/mL boric-acid (H₃BO₃)-doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) layer which is irradiated under the 40 Gray (Gy) dose of gamma (γ) ray. Experimental results showed that the parameters of solar cell improved with exposure to low-dose gamma radiation. In particular, it has provided a significant improvement in short-circuit current density (J_sc) and power conversion efficiency (PCE). About 49% increase in PCE to 1.22% and 40% increase in J_sc to 6.28?mA/cm² was obtained between the bare device and the device containing irradiated PEDOT:PSS:H₃BO₃. Also, it was determined that the H₃BO₃-doped PEDOT:PSS is more stable to temperature. More importantly, solar cell containing gamma-irradiated PEDOT:PSS:H₃BO₃ showed best performance comparing to conventional PEDOT:PSS-based cell.