Effects of alkyl chains on the self-assembly of poly(3-alkylthiophenes) for solar cells applications

• Main Author: Tan, Kevin Kiang Hiong.
• Other Authors: Lam Yeng Ming
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/40071
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Conducting polymers poly-3-butyl-thiophene, poly-3-pentyl-thiophene, poly-3-heptyl-thiophene poly-3-octyl-thiophene have been made into one dimensional nanofibers by the whiskers methods and used as donors in bulk heterojunction solar cell applications. The parameters in the whiskers method: cooling rate, concentration of starting solution and aging time were varied. The morphology and absorbance were characterized using Atomic force microscope and Ultra-Violet Visible spectroscopy respectively. A time study of each of the poly-3-alkyl-thiophene was also carried out to determine the amount of nanofiber growth over time. The UV-Vis The photo conversion efficiency was tested and annealed poly-3-butyl-thiophene shows the best performance. A device consisting of a donor ratio of (1:1) P3BT and P3OT was also fabricated and annealed. This sample showed better performance over just poly-3-butyl-thiophene or poly-3-octtyl-thiophene.