An insight into the mechanism of charge transfer properties of hybrid organic (MEH-PPV): Inorganic (TiO2) nanocomposites

Abstract

Now a days, inorganic nanoparticles are gaining importance and are potential candidate in different organic electronic device application like (LEDs, PVs) due to their novel properties and confinement in Nano-dimensions. [1, 2]In the present work, we have compared the properties of titanium di oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by using two different chemical routes aqueous and ethanol respectively. These synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles have been characterized by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) for phase confirmation. It was observed that synthesized nanoparticles are in anatase phase for both preparation routes.Morphological information was collected by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which confirms that particles are almost spherical in shape and distributed uniformly which is further ensured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Dynamic light scattering (DLS) technique was also used for further confirmation of size distribution of as-synthesized nanoparticles. Optical properties were also investigated by photoluminescence and UV-Vis spectroscopy and calculated bandgap was found to be in the range of 3.3-3.5eV for TiO2 (aq/eth) nanoparticles. The increase in bandgap values with respect to bulk (3.2 eV) confirms that as- synthesized nanoparticles are confined in nanodimensions.As synthesized nanoparticles were interacted with MEHPPV polymer (donor) matrix to make their respective MEHPPV: TiO2 nanocomposites and to confirm the charge transfer mechanism from polymer to nanoparticles. It can be observed from photoluminescence (PL) quenching experiments that continuous quenching obtained for respective nanocomposites confirms better charge transfer from polymer to inorganic TiO2 nanoparticles respectively. Because of, better quenching and simultaneously enhanced charge transfer of respective nanocomposites, ensures that these nanocomposites are greatly applicable for photovoltaics (PVs) especially in Hybrid Solar cells (HSCs).