PEDOT:PSS and PEDOT Based Polymers

PEDOT:PSS Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate

PEDOT:PSS (or Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate, CAS 155090-83-8) is a transparent conductive polymer. It is a mixture of the ionomer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), carrying positive charges, and polystyrene sulfonate, carrying negative charges. Due to its unique combination of conductivity, transparency, ductility, and ease of processing, PEDOT:PSS has become a benchmark material in thin-film electronic fabrication. There are many types of PEDOT dispersions, including PEDOT:PSS AI 4083 and PEDOT:PSS PH 1000.

In organic light emitting diodes, organic photovoltaics, and perovskite photovoltaics, PEDOT:PSS can be used as an interfacial layer for hole transport. It can also be used as a replacement for transparent conductors such as ITO or FTO. Commonly, it is used in applications where the underlying substrate is flexible.

The properties of PEDOT:PSS vary between dispersions, hence its versatility. The key properties of PEDOT:PSS are its conductivity and the size of its work function. Since PEDOT is conductive and PSS is insulating, the conductivity of the resulting polymer depends on the ratio between the two ionomers and the microstructure of the film. Similarly, a higher presence of PSS at the surface will result in a deeper work function.

PEDOT:PSS is typically available as a water-based emulsion. It is created via the polymerization of PEDOT monomers in a polystyrene sulfonic acid solution. We supply all our PEDOT:PSS solutions in light resistant bottles with temperature indicators.

Jump to: PEDOT Materials | Choose the Right PEDOT | Frequently Asked Questions | Resources and Support

PEDOT Materials

Filter by solvent: Aqueous Butyl benzoate Toluene Glycols

AI 4083 PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

From £230

PH 1000 PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £230

HTL Solar PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £230

HTL Solar 3 PEDOT Complex

Price £260

F HC Solar PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £290

CH 8000 PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £220

S V4 STAB PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £230

P JET (OLED) PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £280

HIL 8 PEDOT Complex

Price £310

F 020 PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

From £150

F ET PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

Price £230

P T4 PEDOT:PSS

CAS 155090-83-8

From £100

HTL Solar 4 PEDOT Complex

From £250

PEDOT:PSS from Ossila was featured in the high-impact paper (IF 30.85), A Wearable Supercapacitor Based on Conductive PEDOT:PSS-Coated Cloth and a Sweat Electrolyte, L. Manjakkal et al., Adv. Mater., 1907254 (2020); DOI: 10.1002/adma.201907254.

Choose the Right PEDOT

All PEDOT:PSS products in a family photo

Choosing the right PEDOT product for you could be a difficult task. Each has a different base solvent, conductivity, viscosity, and even composition. At Ossila, we have a range of PEDOT:PSS and PEDOT:Complex products. They are available in different solvents for applications in OLED, OPV, and sensors, and are suitable for different deposition methods, i.e. spin coating, inkjet printing and screen printing.

PEDOT Products by Sheet Resistance

100-1000 / Ω/sq	1000 - 10E4 / Ω/sq	10E4 - 10E6 / Ω/sq	+10E6 / Ω/sq
PH 1000 F HC Solar F 020 F ET S V4 STAB P T4	P T4	P T4 HTL Solar	HTL Solar 3 HIL 8 Al 4083 P JET (OLED) CH 8000 P T4 HTL Solar

100-1000 / Ω/sq

1000 - 10E4 / Ω/sq

10E4 - 10E6 / Ω/sq

+10E6 / Ω/sq

PEDOT Products by Application

OLED	OPV	Transistors	Sensor	Transparent Electrodes	Conductive Textile and Fabric	LC Writing Boards
Al 4083 PH 1000 CH 8000 HIL 8 P JET (OLED)	Al 4083 PH 1000 HTL Solar HTL Solar 3 F HC Solar HTL Solar 4	PH 1000 S V4 STAB P JET (OLED)	HTL Solar F HC Solar S V4 STAB F ET P T4	PH 1000 S V4 STAB F 020 F ET P T4	F 020 F ET S V4 STAB PH 1000	F 020 F ET P T4 PH 1000

OLED

OPV

Transistors

Sensor

Transparent Electrodes

Conductive Textile and Fabric

LC Writing Boards

PEDOT Products by Solvent Base

Water	Toluene	Anisole	Butyl benzoate	Glycols (Paste)
Al 4083 PH 1000 HTL Solar F HC Solar	CH 8000 P JET (OLED) F 020 F ET P T4	HTL Solar 3	HTL Solar 4	HIL 8	S V4 STAB

Water

Toluene

Anisole

Butyl benzoate

Glycols (Paste)

PEDOT Products by Deposition Method

Coating (Spin coating, spray coating, slot die coating, doctor-blade coating, dip coating)	Inkjet Printing	Screen Printing
Al 4083 PH 1000 HTL Solar HTL Solar 3 HTL Solar 4 F HC Solar	CH 8000 HIL 8 F 020 F ET S V4 STAB P T4	P JET (OLED)	S V4 STAB

Coating

(Spin coating, spray coating, slot die coating, doctor-blade coating, dip coating)

Inkjet Printing

Screen Printing

Frequently Asked Questions

How Should PEDOT Materials be Stored?

The recommended storage temperature of PEDOT:PSS and PEDOT dispersions is between 5 and 10 °C. It is recommended that you store the dispersion at the front of a refrigerator. The product is not usable if frozen, so should be kept away from the back of the refrigerator.

The dispersions can tolerate up to a week outside of the refrigerator (e.g. during shipping) without negative consequences for the PEDOT:PSS performance. Over time at elevated temperatures, the PEDOT:PSS can phase separate, aggregate, and form a solid that drops to the bottom of the bottle, reducing performance. Brief heating to a maximum of 50 °C has no adverse effect on product properties.

What is the Shelf Life of PEDOT Materials?

When stored at 5 to 10 °C, the PEDOT dispersion will give you consistent performance over 12 months if used regularly. The official recommended shelf life from the manufacturer is 9 months after production if the dispersion is never used or disturbed. After this time, the dispersion will gradually separate or sediment at a very slow rate, resulting in lower concentrations and thinner films.

Material degradation is mitigated by frequent use of the dispersion due to the gentle agitation when decanting. Through constant use, it is possible to use a single bottle of PEDOT:PSS for many years without harming device performance.

Resources and Support

What is PEDOT:PSS?

PEDOT:PSS is a blend of two distinct polymers: poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and polystyrene sulfonate (PSS).

PEDOT and PEDOT:PSS Synthesis

PEDOT synthesis involves the oxidative chemical or electrochemical polymerization of EDOT monomer.

PEDOT:PSS Conductivity

PEDOT:PSS has conductivities in the range of 10^-4 - 10³ S cm^-1. PEDOT:PSS is conductive because it contains the conjugated intrinsically conductive polymer (ICP) PEDOT.

PEDOT:PSS Work Function

PEDOT:PSS work function ranges 4.8 - 5.2 eV for commercially available products.

Deposition

How to spin coat PEDOT:PSS

For the deposition of thin films of PEDOT:PSS on a freshly prepared surface, we recommend using a vacuum-free spin coater and following this five-step process:

Spin Coating: Complete Guide to Theory and Techniques

Spin coating is a common technique for applying thin films to substrates. When a solution of a material and a solvent is spun at high speeds, the centripetal force and the surface tension of the liquid together create an even covering.

Applications

PEDOT:PSS in Solar Cells

PEDOT:PSS layers are often used in third generation photovoltaics like organic or perovskite solar cells. It is an attractive material for these applications due to its:

PEDOT:PSS Electrodes

The choice of electrode is very important in many optoelectronic devices. Solar cells, LEDs and photodetectors all need an electrode on either side of the device. These electrodes should meet the following criteria.

PEDOT:PSS Applications

PEDOT:PSS stands out as a promising conductive polymer due to its large range of conductivities, transparency, flexibility, and ease of processing.

Contact Angle Measurements of Surface Wetting

Surface wetting occurs when a droplet spreads out over a surface, such that its contact angle is below 90°. When the droplet spreads out completely, this angle will be 0°, and 'complete wetting' will have occurred.

OPV and OLED Fabrication Guide

Ossila’s pre-patterned ITO substrates are used for a wide variety of teaching and research devices (both organic and inorganic) where a high-quality ITO surface is required.

The Ultimate Guide to Making Perovskite Solar Cells

Over the past 10 years, perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have achieved record efficiencies of 25.5% single junction solar cells (as of 20211) and these efficiencies are rising impressively.

Perovskite Fabrication

This guide describes our recommended fabrication routine for perovskite solar cells using Ossila I101 Perovskite Precursor Ink which is designed to be used with a bottom ITO/PEDOT:PSS anode and a top PC70BM/Ca/Al cathode.

Guide to make efficient air processed perovskite devices

This video provides a guide to making efficient air-processed perovskite devices.

Solution Based OFETs

This guide describes the fabrication of evaporation-free OFETs using the Ossila pre-patterned ITO OFET substrates (product codes S161 & S162).

Making OLED and OPV solar cells: Quickstart Guide

Organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) or organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be easily manufactured using Ossila’s pre-patterned ITO substrates and a few simple spin coating and evaporating steps.

Literature

Efficient organometal trihalide perovskite planar-heterojunction solar cells on flexible polymer substrates, H. J. Snaith et. al. Nature Communications, 4, (2013) DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3761

High efficiency stable inverted perovskite solar cells without current hysteresis, M. Grätzel et. al. Energy Environ. Sci. 8, (2015) 2725-2733 DOI: 10.1039/c5ee00645g

Employing PEDOT as the p-type charge collection layer in regular organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells, H. J. Snaith et. al. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 6 (9), (2015) 1666-1673 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.5b00545

Nanoscale morphology of high-performance polymer solar cells, R. A. J. Janssen, Nano Lett. 5 (4), (2005) 579-583 DOI: 10.1021/nl048120i

Bulk heterojunction solar cells with internal quantum efficiency approaching 100%, A. J. Heeger et.al. Nature Photonics, 3, (2009) 297-302 DOI: 10.1038/nphoton.2009.69

Single-junction organic solar cells based on a novel wide-bandgap polymer with efficiency of 9.7%, Y. Sun et. al. Adv. Mater. 27 (18), (2015) 2938-2944 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201500647

Molecular organic light-emitting diodes using highly conducting polymers as anodes, H. Kafafi et. al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, (2002) 3844 DOI: 10.1063/1.1480100

High-efficiency white-light-emitting devices from a single polymer by mixing singlet and triplet emission, Y. Cao et. al. Adv. Mater. 18, (2006) 1769-1773 DOI: 10.1002/adma.200502740

A universal host material for high external quantum efficiency close to 25% and long lifetime in green fluorescent and phosphorescent OLEDs, J. Y. Lee et. al. Adv. Mater. 26, (2014) 4050-4055 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201400347

Highly conductive PEDOT:PSS electrode by simple film treatment with methanol for ITO-free polymer solar cells, C. W. Chu et. al. Energy Environ. Sci. 5, (2012) 9662-9671 DOI: 10.1039/C2EE22595F

Flexible high power-per-weight perovskite solar cells with chromium oxide-metal contacts for improved stability in air, S. Bauer et. al. Nature Materials, 14, (2015) 1032-1039 DOI: 10.1038/nmat4388

All solution roll-to-roll processed polymer solar cells free from indium-tin-oxide and vacuum coating steps, F. C. Krebs, Org. Electron. 10 (5), (2009) 761-768 DOI: 10.1016/j.orgel.2009.03.009