Abstract
Supramolecular hosts offer the ability to template the macroscopic assembly of functional guests like fullerene C60 for electronic device applications. Herein, we investigate the effect of triptycene (TPC) addition to polymer/C60 blend films. When a transparent polymer matrix is used, we can clearly identify the formation of C60–TPC co-crystals via fluorescence microscopy, in which blue-shifted fluorescence spectra are observed, and UV–Vis spectroscopy, in which intermolecular charge-transfer bands are suppressed. When C60 and TPC are blended within a fluorescent-conjugated polymer film that undergoes photo-induced electron transfer to C60, the composition-dependent evolution of fluorescence quenching shows that TPC organises the nanoscale phase separation of the polymer and fullerene. Our results highlight the potential for supramolecular additives to enhance the properties of organic electronic devices such as solar cells.
Highlights
The self-organisation of fullerene into various functional nanostructures with controlled dimensionality is required for many end use applications
The results presented here show UV-Vis spectroscopy has the ability to be used to look at more subtle bulk film effects using lower concentrations of TPC (i.e., 1:1 TPC:C60 molar ratios instead of 10:1) which are more realistic for practical device fabrication
Dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments did not provide any conclusive evidence that TPC was able to assemble C60 in solution
Summary
The self-organisation of fullerene into various functional nanostructures with controlled dimensionality is required for many end use applications (e.g., organic solar cells and field effect transistors) These end use applications often require C60 to be processed from solution which makes the crystalisation dynamics very important to the function and performance of the device. The bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell offers an elegant solution to increase the effective conjugated polymer-C60 donor-accepter interfacial area for exciton charge separation. The morphology of this randomly deposited intermixed layer is critical to the efficiency of BHJ solar cells and requires effective methods of inducing morphological control. In 1996, Kroto, Smalley and Curl were awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for their roles in the discovery of this new allotropic form of elemental carbon
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