Synthesis of mercaptopropyl-(phenylene)s-benzoates passivated gold nanoparticles: Implications for plasmonic photovoltaic cells

• Synthesis of new mercaptopropyl-(phenylene)’s-benzoate ligands.
• Tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) decreases the electrical conductivity of cells.
• Electrical property is the parameter that affects most the cells efficiency.

The incorporation of gold nanoparticles in heterojunction solar cells is expected to increase the efficiency due to plasmon effects, but the literature studies are sometimes controversial. In this work, gold nanoparticles passivated with (Ph)n–(CH2)3SH (n = 1, 2, 3) have been synthesized by reduction of tetrachloroauric acid with sodium borohydride in two ways: (1) one-phase where both the thiol and the gold salt are solubilized in a mixture of methanol with acetic acid: Au-s-(Ph)n or (2), two-phase, using tetraoctylammonium bromide (TOAB) to transfer gold from water to toluene where the thiol is solubilized, Au(TOAB)-s-(Ph)n. The morphological, experimental and simulated optical properties were studied and analyzed as a function of the thiol and of the synthetic procedure in order to correlate them with the efficiency of plasmonic hybrid solar cells in the following configuration ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:PCBM-C60:Au-nanoparticles/Field’s metal, where PEDOT:PSS is poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate), P3HT is poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and PCBM-C60 is [6,6]-Phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester. Our findings indicate that the gold nanoparticles incorporation is affecting the electrical properties of the active layer giving a maximum efficiency for Au-s-(Ph)3. Moreover, TOAB, which is usually used in the synthesis of thiol passivated gold nanoparticles, has negative effects in both plasmonic and electrical properties. This result is important for optoelectronic applications of gold nanoparticles prepared with any procedures that involve TOAB.

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