Ruthenium based metallopolymer grafted reduced graphene oxide as a new hybrid solar light harvester in polymer solar cells

Abstract

A new class of pyridyl benzimdazole based Ru complex decorated polyaniline assembly (PANI-Ru) was covalently grafted onto reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO) via covalent functionalization approach. The covalent attachment of PANI-Ru with rGO was confirmed from XPS analysis and Raman spectroscopy. The chemical bonding between PANI-Ru and rGO induced the electron transfer from Ru complex to rGO via backbone of the conjugated PANI chain. The resultant hybrid metallopolymer assembly was successfully demonstrated as an electron donor in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs). A PSC device fabricated with rGO/PANI-Ru showed an utmost ~6 fold and 2 fold enhancement in open circuit potential (Voc) and short circuit current density (Jsc) with respect to the standard device made with PANI-Ru (i.e., without rGO) under the illumination of AM 1.5 G. The excellent electronic properties of rGO significantly improved the electron injection from PANI-Ru to PCBM and in turn the overall performance of the PSC device was enhanced. The ultrafast excited state charge separation and electron transfer role of rGO sheet in hybrid metallopolymer was confirmed from ultrafast spectroscopy measurements. This covalent modification of rGO with metallopolymer assembly may open a new strategy for the development of new hybrid nanomaterials for light harvesting applications.

Functionalizing Reduced Graphene Oxide with Ru‐Organometallic Compounds as an Effective Strategy to Produce High‐Performance Pt Nanocatalysts for the Methanol Oxidation Reaction

“…Meanwhile, the O1s spectrum corresponding to Pt/rGO in Figure e) exhibits the formation of the PtO, along with the C=O, C−O and O−C=O species . In addition to these species, the spectra of Pt/rGO Ru‐dim , Pt/rGO Ru‐cym and Pt/rGO Ru‐com in Figures f–h) show the presence of RuO 2 in agreement with the Ru 3d and Ru 3p regions.…”

Cauliflower‐shaped ternary nanocomposites with enhanced power and energy density for supercapacitors

“…For nanocomposite C5 (1:2:0), the peaks obtained are similar to the peaks observed for pure PPY indicating that PPY nanoparticles are formed in the composite. The prominent peaks observed are 1521 cm −1 (C—C stretching), 1294 cm −1 (C—N stretching), 1129 cm −1 (benzenoid‐NH + ‐quinoid stretching), 1029 cm −1 (C—H in‐plane deformation), and 869 cm −1 (C—H/N—H) out‐of‐plane bending …”

“…Raman analysis was done to study the structural properties of CPs, defects in the rGO, and structural changes of their nanocomposites . Figure A,B shows the Raman spectra for GO, rGO, PANI, and PPY.…”

“…The prominent peaks observed are 1521 cm −1 (C-C stretching), 1294 cm −1 (C-N stretching), 1129 cm −1 (benzenoid-NH +quinoid stretching), 1029 cm −1 (C-H in-plane deformation), and 869 cm −1 (C-H/N-H) out-of-plane bending. [29][30][31] Raman analysis was done to study the structural properties of CPs, defects in the rGO, and structural changes of their nanocomposites. 28,29 Figure 5A,B shows the Raman spectra for GO, rGO, PANI, and PPY.…”

“…[29][30][31] Raman analysis was done to study the structural properties of CPs, defects in the rGO, and structural changes of their nanocomposites. 28,29 Figure 5A,B shows the Raman spectra for GO, rGO, PANI, and PPY. The Raman spectrum obtained for both GO and rGO shows similar types of significant bands.…”