Synthesis and Characterization of Nanocomposites Based on Functional Regioregular Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) and Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

New functionalized poly(3-hexylthiophene)s (P3HT) have been designed and synthesized with the aim of increasing the dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in solutions and in thin films of semiconducting polymers. Dispersion in solution has been assessed by sedimentation tests while the thin film morphology has been analyzed by TEM and AFM. Both the physisorption of P3HT chains (via pyrene end-groups) or their chemical grafting (onto amine functions generated on the CNT surface) lead to a much better dispersion in solution and in the solid. In thin films, P3HT fibrils are observed to arrange perpendicular to the CNT surface, which can be understood on the basis of molecular modeling simulations. Finally, the effect of dispersing those P3HT/CNT nanocomposites in bulk-heterojunction P3HT-based photovoltaic devices has been evaluated.

Transition and Stability of Copolymer Adsorption Morphologies on the Surface of Carbon Nanotubes and Implications on Their Dispersion

“…Because of the long alkyl chain and bulky headgroup of the adjoining copolymer molecules, BYK copolymer was able to lie flat on the CNT surface along the length of the CNT. Similar phenomena have also been suggested based on molecular dynamics simulation for CNT−poly(3-hexylthiophene) composites by Boon et al 16 They demonstrated that the first chain adsorbs flat on the CNT surface. Due to the small curvature radius of the CNT, copolymer molecules are probably unable to fully wrap around the CNT.…”

Selective Grafting of Primary Amines onto Carbon Nanotubes via Free-Radical Treatment in Microwave Plasma Post-Discharge

“…Another interesting aspect of our process is that the primary amine functions are directly grafted on the CNT surface with links between the function and the graphitic sidewall. This direct link between primary amine functions and CNT would be important in photovoltaic applications [59].…”

Conjugated Polymers in Cages: Templating Poly(3‐hexylthiophene) Nanocrystals by Inert Gel Matrices

“…[ 19 ] Inspired by this work, we turned our attention to regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the crystallizable unit. This semiconducting polymer represents a benchmark material for the fabrication of bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells, [20][21][22][23][24][25][26] organic fi eld-effect transistors (FET) [27][28][29] or organic lightemitting diodes, [30][31][32][33] with improved nanoscale morphology. [ 34 ] A certain control over the crystallization of bulk P3HT can be accomplished starting from melts or by vapor treatment of thin fi lms.…”