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Optical properties of the composite film from P3HT and hydrothermally synthesized porous carbon nanospheres

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Abstract

Porous carbon nanospheres (PCNSs), with a diameter of about 100 nm and porous structure, were synthesized by a hydrothermal method. Then, poly(3-hexylthiophene):PCNS (P3HT:PCNS) composite films were prepared by a spin-coating method using PCNS and P3HT mixtures in a chlorobenzene solution. The effects of mixture ratio, revolving speed, suspension concentration during spin coating, and annealing on the optical properties of P3HT:PCNS composite films were investigated. The results indicate that PCNSs exhibit an energy level matching with P3HT and the optical properties of the P3HT:PCNSs depend strongly on mixture ratio, revolving speed, and suspension concentration during spin coating. A 2:1 ratio of P3HT to PCNSs, suspension concentration of 20 mg/mL (P3HT), and spinning rate of 2000 rpm are appropriate for fabricating P3HT:PCNS composite films, and annealing increases the crystallinity of P3HT, resulting in enhanced visible light absorption and increased charge transport in composite films.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences for atomic force microscope test. This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (21176169), Shanxi Provincial Key Innovative Research Team in Science and Technology (2012041011), International Science & Technology Cooperation Program of China (2012DFR50460), Research Project Supported by Shanxi Scholarship Council of China (2012-038), Postgraduate Innovation Program of Shanxi Province (20143010), and Postgraduate Innovation Foundation of Taiyuan University of Technology (S2014103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Interface Science and Engineering in Advanced Materials, Ministry of Education, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi province, China

    Lingpeng Yan, Weijia Yang, Yamin Hao, Yongzhen Yang & Bingshe Xu

  2. Research Center of Advanced Materials Science and Technology, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi province, China

    Lingpeng Yan, Weijia Yang, Yamin Hao, Yongzhen Yang & Bingshe Xu

  3. Applied Chemistry Department, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi province, China

    Xuguang Liu

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  1. Lingpeng Yan
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Correspondence to Yongzhen Yang or Xuguang Liu.

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Contributing Editor: Mauricio Terrones

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Yan, L., Yang, W., Hao, Y. et al. Optical properties of the composite film from P3HT and hydrothermally synthesized porous carbon nanospheres. Journal of Materials Research 30, 1599–1610 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.108

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.108

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