Design, Synthesis, Characterizations, and Processing of a Novel  c-Donor-nc-Bridge-cf-Acceptor Type Block Copolymer for Optoelecronic Applications

Thuong H. Nguyen; Muhammad Hasib; Dan Wang; Sam-Shajing Sun

doi:10.6000/1929-5995.2016.05.01.3

Authors

Thuong H. Nguyen Center for Materials Research and Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering. USA
Muhammad Hasib 1Center for Materials Research and Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering, USA
Dan Wang Center for Materials Research and Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering, USA
Sam-Shajing Sun Center for Materials Research and Ph.D. Program in Materials Science and Engineering,USA

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-5995.2016.05.01.3

Keywords:

Conjugated block copolymers, polyphenylenevinylenes, fluorinated conjugated polymers, donor-bridge-acceptor, electron transfer, photo induced charge separation, ligtht harvesting, optoelectronics, solar energy conversions, self-assembly, nano phase separa

Abstract

A novel c-D-nc-B-cf-A (or DBfA) type of block copolymer has been designed, synthesized, characterized, and preliminarily studied for optoectronic applications, where c-D is a conjugated donor type polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) block, nc-B is a non-conjugated bridge unit, and cf-A is a conjugated and fluorinated acceptor type PPV block. The frontier HOMO/LUMO orbital levels of D and fA conjugated blocks are -5.22/-3.06 and -6.10/-3.43 as determined from electrochemical and optical measurements. Photoluminescence emissions of D and fA are quenched in DBfA indicating a potential photo induced charge separation pathway between the donor and the acceptor blocks. Solid state thin film studies revealed more uniform and nano-scale phase separated morphologies in DBfA as compared to D/fA blend. A two orders of magnitude enhancement of photoelectric energy conversion efficiency was observed in a best solar cell fabricated from the DBfA block copolymer as compared to a best cell fabricated from the corresponding D/fA blend. Such significant photoelectric conversion enhancement could be attributed to the improvements of phase separated and bicontinously ordered nanostructure (BONS) morphology in DBfA as compared to D/fA.

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