Free-Standing All-Nanoparticle Thin Fibers: A Novel Building Block for Organic Photovoltaic Applications

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The objective of this research award is to assemble conjugated, interpenetrating networks in fibers by freeze-drying nanoparticles in the fibers and gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanism for creating such networks. The research approach is three-fold, 1) assemble nanoparticles into a forest of thin fibers; 2) investigate the unidirectional growth of these thin fibers in-situ and in 3D; and 3) establish a fundamental understanding of the role of surface tension in the assembly process.The ability to engineer nanoparticles and allow them to form rarely observed nanofibers will add significantly to the body of knowledge regarding to material processing and manufacturing. More importantly, when these nanoparticles are made of conjugated polymers, the thin fibers are expected to be a novel building block for organic photovoltaic cells with superior photon-to-electron conversion efficiency unachievable in current technology. Graduate and undergraduate engineering students and high school teachers will benefit through classroom instruction and summer research involvement.