Abstract
Deoxyribonucleic acids (DNA) provide exciting opportunities as templates in self assembled architectures and functionality in terms of optical and electronic properties. In this study, we investigate the effects of DNA and metalized DNA sequences in polymer fullerene bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. These effects are characterized via optical, quantum efficiency and current-voltage measurements. We demonstrate that by placing on the hole collection side of the active layer, DNA and Pt-DNA sequences lead to an increase in the power conversion efficiency (POE) by %16 and %30, respectively. Then, we examine the metallization process with SEM and AFM images and optimized the metallic cluster formation on DNA by changing the duration of steps in the process. Furthermore, we studied the electrical charge characteristics of our DNA layer by using capacitance voltage (C-V) measurements to explain the increase in hole collection. The shift in the C-V measurements showed that spray coated DNA formed a negatively charged layer which can increase the hole collection on the cathode side.