Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV16)
Publication date: 28th March 2016
Despite Organic Solar Cells (OSCs) have received a rising interest in the last years thanks to their flexibility, biocompatibility and ease in large area-fabrication, a significant economic development has not been observed yet because of their weak conversion efficiency, their low stability and the still high cost of the active materials. Carbon Quantum Dots (CQDs) represent a promising class of carbon nanostructures, characterized by discrete, quasi-circular shapes with diameter up to 10 nm, that can overcome these problems thanks to their fascinating properties such as high stability, low-cost, biocompatibility and peculiar photophysical properties.1
Our work aims to exploit the versatility of CQDs, in particular their electron-donating properties, and to apply them in the photoactive layer of organic solar cells (OSCs) as replacement of p-type polymeric materials. A few data exist on the CQDs as electron acceptors and no report on their use as electron donor for photovoltaic applications so far. We therefore developed some new derivatives of N-doped CQDs2 obtained by covalently linking electron-rich thiophene groups to the surface of the CQDs with the aim of obtaining a material with improved solubility in organic solvents and film-forming capabilities and endowed with stronger electron-donating properties. The fundamental photophysical properties of such materials have been characterized by optical and EPR spectroscopy, both in solution and in thin films of blends with PCBM. Photoluminescence measurements performed on CQDs/PCBM blends showed the presence of an efficient fluorescence quenching process that, through EPR spectroscopy, was assigned to a Photoinduced Electron Transfer (PET) from CQDs to PCBM. This result was supported by the determination of HOMO and LUMO energies of functionalized CQDs through cyclic voltammetry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Lim, S. Y.; Shen, W.; Gao, Z. Carbon quantum dots and their applications. Chemical Society reviews 2015, 44, 362-81.
2. Mosconi, D.; Mazzier, D.; Silvestrini, S.; Privitera, A.; Marega, C.; Franco, L.; Moretto, A. Synthesis and Photochemical Applications of Processable Polymers Enclosing Photoluminescent Carbon Quantum Dots. ACS Nano 2015, 9, 4156-4164.
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