Sulfonation of a flexible and unexpected electrically conductive polysulfone and its performance in perovskites solar cells

The effect of sulfonation on polysulfone regarding its electrical properties is studied and discussed. In addition to the effect of percentage of sulfonation, the thickness of thin films and the ultraviolet (UV) treatment also were evaluated and reported. The results indicate that percentage of sulfonation is the most important effect, even over thickness. As the sulfonation percentage was increased, better electrical performance (fill factor and power conversion efficiency) was obtained because the sulfonate groups impart a kind of vacancy into the polymer structure, showing comparable energy level to that of conventional poly (3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS).In addition, the UV treatment not only cleans the film's surface but also polarizes the polymeric's surface improving the polysulfone performance, which was 24% better, at least, respect to that obtained without UV treatment. The obtained results open the possibility to optimize sulfonated polysulfones that could be used in inverted hybrid perovskite solar cells.