Synthesis and characterization of new nanocomposites of [poly(o-toluidine)]/(WO3 nanoparticles) and their application in novel hybrid solar cells

Abstract

The derivatives of polyaniline have obtained remarkable attention due to their electronic applications in the field of nanomaterials. This work considers the electronic, structural, and photovoltaic properties of nanocomposites (POT/WO3NPs) synthesized with three different ratios of poly(o-toluidine) and WO3 nanoparticles [a-c (molWO3/molmonomer) 100 = 60, 65, 70%] using a template-free method and a basic mechanochemical reaction in solid-state. The nanocomposites are analyzed and characterized by various spectroscopy methods. The prepared nanocomposites have core-shell morphology. The results of the band gap assessed via cyclic voltammetry and UV-vis specified that the forbidden band gap for (POT/WO3NPs) nanocomposite b [(molWO3/molmonomer) 100 = 65%] are about 1.03 and 1.5–1.9 eV, respectively. The J–V analysis and power conversion efficiency of the fabricated devices FTO|TiO2NPs|POT|Al and FTO|TiO2NPs|POT/WO3NPs (a-c) |Al single-layer solar cells are performed and discussed. The photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency (PCE) of the two devices are 0.18% and in average, 0.57%, respectively. The data show both indirect and direct transitions are observed for the WO3NPs, POT, and POT/WO3NP (b). This investigation demonstrates that the morphology and architecture of nanocomposites (POT/WO3NPs) can be helpful in improving solar cell performance.

Keywords

• nanocomposites
• conductive polymers
• hybrid solar cell
• poly(o-toluidine)
• wo3 nanoparticles