Photoactive composite films prepared from mixtures of polystyrene microgel dispersions and poly(3-hexylthiophene) solutions.
Photoactive composite films prepared from mixtures of polystyrene microgel dispersions and poly(3-hexylthiophene) solutions.
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DOI：
10.1039/c5sm01618e
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发表时间：
2015-10
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Mu Chen;Zhengxing Cui;S. Edmondson;N. Hodson;Mi Zhou;Junfeng Yan;P. O’Brien;B. Saunders
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Mu Chen;Zhengxing Cui;S. Edmondson;N. Hodson;Mi Zhou;Junfeng Yan;P. O’Brien;B. Saunders
虽然聚苯乙烯微凝胶属于最古老的微凝胶颗粒家族，但它们在沉积到基材上或制备成复合材料时的行为很少受到关注。由于聚苯乙烯微凝胶是溶剂可溶胀的，并且本质上胶体稳定，因此它们非常适合与共轭聚合物形成复合材料。在这里，我们首次研究了由聚苯乙烯微凝胶和聚（3-己基噻吩）（P3HT）的混合分散体制备的旋涂复合薄膜的形貌和光吸收性能。我们将复合膜与旋涂微凝胶膜的形态进行比较。使用光学显微镜、SEM、AFM、广角 X 射线衍射和紫外-可见光谱对薄膜进行了研究。该薄膜含有扁平的微凝胶颗粒，长径比约为 10。对于纯微凝胶和微凝胶/P3HT 复合膜来说，含有六方密堆积颗粒的微凝胶岛是明显的。后者是导电的。复合膜的形态取决于用于薄膜制备的微凝胶和 P3HT 浓度，并构建了形态相图。 P3HT 相充当导电粘合剂，提高了薄膜对溶剂清洗的鲁棒性。由于 P3HT 成分，复合膜具有光敏性。薄膜的吸光度是可调的，并且随着微凝胶和 P3HT 浓度线性增加。研究结果应适用于其他有机可溶胀微凝胶/共轭聚合物组合，并可能为未来的光电应用带来新的胶体复合材料。
Whilst polystyrene microgels belong to the oldest family of microgel particles, their behaviours when deposited onto substrates or prepared as composites have received little attention. Because polystyrene microgels are solvent-swellable, and inherently colloidally stable, they are well suited to form composites with conjugated polymers. Here, we investigate the morphology and light absorption properties of spin coated composite films prepared from mixed dispersions of polystyrene microgels and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) for the first time. We compare the morphologies of the composite films to spin coated microgel films. The films were studied using optical microscopy, SEM, AFM, wide-angle X-ray diffraction and UV-visible spectroscopy. The films contained flattened microgel particles with an aspect ratio of ∼10. Microgel islands containing hexagonally close packed particles were evident for both the pure microgel and microgel/P3HT composite films. The latter were electrically conducting. The composite film morphology was dependent on the microgel and P3HT concentration used for film preparation and a morphology phase diagram was constructed. The P3HT phase acted as an electrically conducting cement and increased the robustness of the films to solvent washing. The composite films were photoactive due to the P3HT component. The absorbance for the films was tuneable and increased linearly with both microgel and P3HT concentration. The results of the study should apply to other organic swellable microgel/conjugated polymer combinations and may lead to new colloidal composites for future optoelectronic applications.