TY - JOUR A1 - Amargós-Reyes, Olivia A1 - Maldonado, José-Luis A1 - Martínez-Alvarez, Omar A1 - Nicho, María-Elena A1 - Santos-Cruz, José A1 - Nicasio-Collazo, Juan A1 - Caballero-Quintana, Irving A1 - Arenas-Arrocena, Concepción T1 - Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC71BM-based organic photovoltaic cells JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2019/// VL - 10 SP - 2238 EP - 2250 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.10.216 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.10.216 KW - iron disulfide KW - nanoparticles KW - organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) KW - PTB7 KW - pyrite N2 - Herein, we report the synthesis of nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide (FeS2) nanocrystals (NCs) using a two-pot method. Moreover, we study the influence of these NCs incorporated into the PTB7:PC71BM active layer of bulk-heterojunction ternary organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. The OPV devices are fabricated with the direct configuration glass/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PTB7:PC71BM:FeS2/PFN/FM. The Field’s metal (FM) is a eutectic alloy composed of 32.5% Bi, 51% In and 16.5% Sn by weight that melts at 62 °C. It is deposited on the active layer/PFN under atmospheric conditions. Ternary active layers are prepared by adding small amounts of the semiconducting FeS2 NCs at different weight ratios of 0.0, 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 wt % with respect to the electron donor PTB7. With respect to the reference device (without FeS2), a 21% increase in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is observed for OPVs with 0.5 wt % FeS2, such that the PCE of the OPVs is enhanced from 5.69 to 6.47%. According to the Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney statistical tests, all OPV devices follow the same trend. ER -