Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

New insights into the impact of graphene oxide incorporation on molecular ordering and photophysical properties of PTB7:C70 blends

  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Nano-fillers have been successfully incorporated in the active layer to enhance the performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ)-based organic solar cells (OSCs). However, only little information is available on their impact on the molecular ordering of polymers in the BHJ blends. Here, we comprehensively analyze the absorption, photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectra to understand the effect of incorporation of the graphene oxide (GO) nano-filler in PTB7:C70 blends on the molecular ordering of PTB7 polymer. Absorption spectroscopy unveils how the interplay between interchain and intrachain coupling modifies the molecular order and backbone characteristic of PTB7. The addition of C70 weakens both intrachain and interchain interaction of PTB7. Whereas, intrachain interaction gradually rises with increasing the GO concentration. PTB7 films show weakly interacting J-aggregate behavior; nevertheless, the interaction strength gradually improves with the increasing GO content. The PL analysis indicates well-segregated phase domains and enhanced molecular ordering for composite films with 1 wt% GO. The Raman spectra of PTB7:C70:GO composite films suggests the formation of highly ordered PTB7 aggregates. An in-depth understanding of how these properties of polymer blends change with the GO concentration has significant implications on exploiting them towards the development of electronic devices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. G. Ji, W. Zhao, J. Wei, L. Yan, Y. Han, Q. Luo, S. Yang, J. Hou, C.Q. Ma, J. Mater. Chem. A 7, 212 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. D.K. Kim, M. Lee, B.S. Kim, J.H. Choi, Org. Electron. 74, 135 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Luceño-Sánchez, J.A. D-Pascual, A.M. Capilla, R. Peña, Int. J. Mol. Sci. 20, 976 (2019)

  4. I. Hussain, H.P. Tran, J. Jaksik, J. Moore, N. Islam, M. J. Uddin, Emerg. Mater. 1, 133 (2018)

  5. M. Hilal, J.I. Han, Sol. Energy 167, 24 (2018)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. A.C. Knall, S.F. Hoefler, M. Hollauf, F. Thaler, S. Noesberger, I. Hanzu, H. Ehmann, M. Hobisch, S. Spirk, S. Wen, R. Yang, T. Rath, G. Trimmel, J. Mater. Sci. 54, 10065 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. B. Ray, A.G. Baradwaj, M.R. Khan, B.W. Boudouris, M.A. Alam, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112, 11193 (2015)

  8. B.A. Collins, E. Gann, L. Guignard, X. He, C.R. McNeill, H. Ade, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 1, 3160 (2010)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. S. Rathi, G. Chauhan, S.K. Gupta, R. Srivastava, A. Singh, J. Electron. Mater. 46, 1235 (2017)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. N. Sharma, S.K. Gupta, C.M. Singh, Negi, Superlattices Microstruct. 135, 106278 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. P. Calado, D. Burkitt, J. Yao, J. Troughton, T.M. Watson, M.J. Carnie, A.M. Telford, B.C. O’Regan, J. Nelson, P.R.F. Barnes, Phys. Rev. Appl. 11, 1 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  12. W. Yin, M. Dadmun, ACS Nano 5, 4756 (2011)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. R.R. Lunt, J.B. Benziger, S.R. Forrest, Adv. Mater. 22, 1233 (2010)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. N. Jain, N. Chandrasekaran, A. Sadhanala, R.H. Friend, C.R. McNeill, D. Kabra, J. Mater. Chem. A 5, 24749 (2017)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. M. Sim, J. Shin, C. Shim, M. Kim, S.B. Jo, J.H. Kim, K. Cho, J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 760 (2014)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Y. Zhang, M.T. Sajjad, O. Blaszczyk, A.J. Parnell, A. Ruseckas, L.A. Serrano, G. Cooke, I.D.W. Samuel, Chem. Mater. 31, 6548 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. W.C. Tsoi, D.T. James, J.S. Kim, P.G. Nicholson, C.E. Murphy, D.D.C. Bradley, J. Nelson, J.S. Kim, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 133, 9834 (2011)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. R. Datt, A. Suman, A. Bagui, R. Siddiqui, V. Sharma, S. Gupta, S. Yoo, Kumar, S.P. Singh, Sci. Rep. 9, 1 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. F. Zheng, X.Y. Yang, P.Q. Bi, M.S. Niu, C.K. Lv, L. Feng, W. Qin, Y.Z. Wang, X.T. Hao, K.P. Ghiggino, Org. Electron. 44, 149 (2017)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. C.T. Lee, H.Y. Lee, H.C. Hsu, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 30, 14151 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. A. Yadav, A. Upadhyaya, S.K. Gupta, A.S. Verma, A. Singh, P. Rathore, C.M.S. Negi, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 0, 1 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  22. P. Rathore, C.M.S. Negi, A. Yadav, A.S. Verma, S.K. Gupta, Optik (Stuttg). 160, (2018)

  23. R. Charekhah, Z. Jarrahi, M. Darabi, A. Imani, G. Farzi, J. Mater. Sci. Mater. Electron. 30, 26 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. A.T. Dideikin, A.Y. Vul, Front. Phys. 6, 149 (2019)

  25. Y. Gao, H. Yip, K. Chen, K.M.O. Malley, O. Acton, Y. Sun, G. Ting, H. Chen, A.K. Jen, Adv. Mater. 23, 1903 (2011)

  26. P. Tonui, G.T. Mola, Phys. E Low-Dimensional Syst. Nanostructures 107, 154 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. T.A. Amollo, G.T. Mola, V.O. Nyamori, Sol. Energy 171, 83 (2018)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Z. He, F. Liu, C. Wang, J. Chen, L. He, D. Nordlund, H. Wu, T.P. Russell, Y. Cao, Mater. Horizons 2, 592 (2015)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Y. Zheng, G. Wang, D. Huang, J. Kong, T. Goh, W. Huang, J. Yu, A.D. Taylor, Sol. RRL 2, 1870161 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  30. J. Razzell-Hollis, J. Wade, W.C. Tsoi, Y. Soon, J. Durrant, J.S. Kim, J. Mater. Chem. A 2, 20189 (2014)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. B. Heidari, M.M. Heravi, M.R. Nabid, R. Sedghi, S.E. Hooshmand, Appl. Organomet. Chem. 33, 1 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  32. P. Bhawal, S. Ganguly, T.K. Chaki, N.C. Das, RSC Adv. 6, 20781 (2016)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. S. Tiwari, A.K. Singh, R. Prakash, J. Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 14, 2823 (2014)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. V. Savikhin, L.K. Jagadamma, L.J. Purvis, I. Robertson, S.D. Oosterhout, C.J. Douglas, I.D.W. Samuel, M.F. Toney, IScience 2, 182 (2018)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. N. Sharma, C.M. Singh Negi, M. Sharma, A. SinghVerma, S.K. Gupta, Opt. Mater. (Amst). 95, 109273 (2019)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. F. Bencheikh, D. Duché, C.M. Ruiz, J.J. Simon, L. Escoubas, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 24643 (2015)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. X. Zhang, Y. Liu, S. Hu, J. Zhou, L. Li, H. Huo, Soft Matter. 14, 3590 (2018)

  38. M. Más-Montoya, R.A.J. Janssen, Adv. Funct. Mater. 27, (2017)

  39. T.J. Fauvell, T. Zheng, N.E. Jackson, M.A. Ratner, L. Yu, L.X. Chen, Chem. Mater. 28, 2814 (2016)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. S. Wang, C.T. Nai, X.F. Jiang, Y. Pan, C.H. Tan, M. Nesladek, Q.H. Xu, K.P. Loh, J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 3, 2332 (2012)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. H.Y. Si, C.H. Liu, H. Xu, T.M. Wang, H.L. Zhang, Nanoscale Res. Lett. 4, 1146 (2009)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. P.J. Goutam, D.K. Singh, P.K. Iyer, J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 8196 (2012)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. S. Rathi, S.K. Gupta, C.M.S. Negi, A. Singh, Superlattices Microstruct. 114, 15 (2018)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. S.S. Van Bavel, M. Bärenklau, G. De With, H. Hoppe, J. Loos, Adv. Funct. Mater. 20, 1458 (2010)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. N. Chehata, O. Dhibi, A. Ltaief, A. Farzi, A. Bouazizi, J. Surf. Eng. Mater. Adv. Technol. 02, 174 (2012)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  46. S. Kim, M.A.M. Rashid, T. Ko, K. Ahn, Y. Shin, S. Nah, M.H. Kim, B.S. Kim, K. Kwak, M. Cho, J. Phys. Chem. C 124, 2762 (2020)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. J. Noh, S. Jeong, J.Y. Lee, Nat. Commun. 7, 1 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  48. S. Kim, Md A. M. Rashid, T. Ko, K. Ahn, Y. Shin, S. Nah, M.H. Kim, B. Kim, K. Kwak, M. Cho, J. Phys. Chem. C, 124, 2762 (2020)

  49. Y. Gao, J.K. Grey, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 9654 (2009)

  50. E. Lim, A.M. Glaudell, R. Miller, and M. L. Chabinyc 1800915, 1 (2019)

    Google Scholar 

  51. M.J. Newman, E.M. Speller, J. Barbé, J. Luke, M. Li, Z. Wang, S.M. Jain, J. Kim, H. Ka, H. Lee, M.J. Newman, E.M. Speller, J. Barbé, J. Luke, M. Li, Z. Wang, S.M. Jain, J. Kim, H. Ka, H. Lee, W.C. Tsoi, Sci. Technol. Adv. Mater. 6996, 1 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  52. A.R. Chew, R. Ghosh, Z. Shang, F.C. Spano, A. Salleo, 4974 (2017)

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to show their indebtedness to the financial support from CURIE program (grant No. SR/CURIE- Phase-III/01/2015 (G)), department of Science and Technology, govt. of India. We are also grateful to INUP, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, for providing fabrication and characterization facilities in INUP lab facility.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, 304022, India

    Nidhi Sharma & Saral K. Gupta

  2. Department of Electronics, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan, 304022, India

    Chandra Mohan Singh Negi

Authors
  1. Nidhi Sharma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Saral K. Gupta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Chandra Mohan Singh Negi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chandra Mohan Singh Negi.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Electronic supplementary material 1 (DOCX 140 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Sharma, N., Gupta, S.K. & Negi, C.M.S. New insights into the impact of graphene oxide incorporation on molecular ordering and photophysical properties of PTB7:C70 blends. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 22274–22283 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04728-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-04728-2

Search

Navigation