EAGER: Electropolymerized Layers with Tuned Light Absorption and Charge Transport Properties

探索性研究的早期概念拨款（EAGER）为开发电聚合光吸收层和半导体聚合物和功能化碳纳米管之间的电荷转移复合物提供资金。这些材料和结构的目标是用于薄膜有机光伏发电，这种技术可以实现廉价、灵活的光伏模块的广泛应用。在这个项目中，低溶解度但具有良好光吸收性能的单体将被电聚合成50-300纳米的薄膜。可溶单体的电沉积可以诱导与电极表面垂直的高pi-pi堆叠顺序，这为薄的吸光薄膜创造了有利的分子排列。这些薄膜的光学和电荷输运特性以及加工-结构-性能关系将被研究，以指导具有广谱光吸收和高电荷迁移率的高性能薄膜的制造。多孔碳纳米管垫将被电沉积聚合物浸渍，以创建供体-受体组装体。纳米管可以被表面功能化，以调节聚合物电子供体和纳米管电子受体之间的能级差，从而在相之间有效地转移电荷，这是有机光伏电池运行的关键步骤。如果成功，本研究结果将导致有机光伏活性层加工的改进，并对电聚合聚合物的光学和电学性质有更深入的了解。这项工作的主要目标是确定光伏有源层新加工方法的潜力，并测量这些材料的关键光吸收和电荷输运属性。确定工艺参数和关键材料特性以实现本工作的目标将有助于降低成本并扩大有机光伏器件的可能材料集。这项工作也将有助于光电薄膜的制造，用于其他应用，如聚合物电子学。

This EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) grant provides funding for the development of electropolymerized light absorbing layers and charge transfer complexes between semi-conducting polymers and functionalized carbon nanotubes. These materials and structures are targeted towards use in thin-film organic photovoltaics, a technology that may enable deployment of inexpensive, flexible photovoltaic modules for a wide range of applications. In this project, monomers with low solubility but advantageous light absorption properties will be electropolymerized to form 50-300 nm films. Electrodeposition of soluble monomers can induce high pi-pi stacking order normal to the electrode surface which creates favorable molecular alignment for thin, light-absorbing films. The films will be interrogated for their optical and charge transport properties and processing-structure-property relationships will be developed to guide the fabrication of high performance films that have broad-spectrum light absorption and high charge mobility. Porous carbon nanotube mats will be impregnated with electrodeposited polymer to create donor-acceptor assemblies. The nanotubes may be surface-functionalized to tune the energy level differences between the polymer electron donor and nanotube electron acceptor for efficient charge transfer between phases, a critical step in the operation of organic photovoltaics.If successful, the results of this research will lead to improvements in organic photovoltaic active layer processing and a deeper understanding of the optical and electrical properties of electropolymerized polymers. The primary goal of this work is to determine the potential of a new processing method for photovoltaic active layers and to measure the key light absorption and charge transport attributes of these materials. Determining the process parameters and critical materials properties to achieve the objectives of this work will help to reduce the cost and widen the possible materials set for organic photovoltaic devices. The work will also contribute to fabrication of optoelectronic thin films for other applications such as polymer electronics.