On the trade-off between processability and opto-electronic properties of single wall carbon nanotube derivatives in thin film heterojunctions

Abstract

A flow functionalization route has been employed to derivatize single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) by thienylphenyl groups. The SWCNT derivatives in the most soluble fraction have been characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, DLS analysis, DFT calculations, and UV-vis-NIR, microRaman and IR spectroscopies to study the degree of functionalization, the concentration of SWCNTs in solution, the dimension of the aggregates in solutions, the density of defects, and the presence of the thienylphenyl groups. Thin-film heterojunctions made of SWCNT derivatives and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) have been prepared by various methods employing the Langmuir–Schaefer technique, spin-coating and thermal annealing processes. By comparing the batch and the flow functionalizations, a trade-off between solubility, processability and the thin-film opto-electronic properties has been found as a result of the degree of functionalization

Boosting Perovskite Solar Cells Performance and Stability through Doping a Poly‐3(hexylthiophene) Hole Transporting Material with Organic Functionalized Carbon Nanostructures

“…A functionalization degree (FD, defined as the fraction of CNS carbon atoms that are functionalized with respect to the total carbon atoms) of 5% for SWCNT‐PhOMe and 3.4% for RGO‐PhOMe has been estimated from thermogravimetric analysis as expected (i.e., see refs. and ). The calculations are reported in the Supporting Information, together with the corresponding thermograms in Figures S5 and S6 (Supporting Information).…”

“…Data on Hipco SWCNTs are available from the producer and have also been reported in our previous work (see ref. ). Data on RGO powder are reported in the Supporting Information (Figures S2 and S3).…”

Organic Functionalized Carbon Nanostructures for Functional Polymer‐Based Nanocomposites

“…In an effort towards such a direction, our group has studied the preparation of photoactive heterojunction active layers based on blends of poly(3‐hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and derivatized SWCNTs, which contain 4‐(thien‐2‐yl)phenyl (PhTh) moieties on the external surface, to improve their interaction with the thiophene‐based polymer 51. For the functionalization of SWCNTs, a previously reported approach based on aryldiazonium chemistry was initially followed by using 4‐(thien‐2‐yl)aniline in a flask at 80 °C for 4 h to generate in situ the reactive species (Scheme ).…”

“… Functionalization of SWCNTs with PhTh moieties under batch conditions. The synthesis of the 4‐(thien‐2‐yl)aniline derivative is also reported (Boc = tert ‐butoxycarbonyl) 51…”

Interfacial Morphology Addresses Performance of Perovskite Solar Cells Based on Composite Hole Transporting Materials of Functionalized Reduced Graphene Oxide and P3HT

“…Unfortunately, this does not often occur due to the stronger tendency of pristine GBMs to self‐aggregate, as it happens for the majority of CNSs, compromising the homogeneity of their dispersion within a polymer matrix . In this regard, resorting to chemical functionalization of pristine CNSs can be useful when the process is sufficiently controllable to avoid an excessive disruption of the native electronic structure . In the past, we have applied a coupled covalent chemical functionalization/sedimentation‐based separation (SBS) strategy to obtain homogeneous dispersion of RGO in a P3HT matrix .…”