Optical Properties of Conjugated Polymers in Solution
Open Access
- Area of Honors:
- Chemical Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Gomez, Thesis Supervisor
- Dr. Janik, Honors Advisor
- Keywords:
- Polymer
- Solar cell
- Absorbance
- P3HT
- PCDTBT
- PFT6BT
- Spectra
- conjugated
- Abstract:
- Control of optical properties of conjugated polymers can be critical for conversion efficiency of plastic solar cells. In pure polymer and solvent systems, solvent effects on the optical properties of the dissolved polymer could provide information to optimize performance in a full device. The absorbance spectra and photoluminescence spectra of poly(3-hexylthiophene), Poly[N-9′-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole)], and poly(2,7-(9′,9′-dioctylfluorene)-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole) in dilute solutions with organic solvents were studied and an increase in band gap energy with increasing solvent refractive index was observed. Dilute solutions allowed trends to be linked to free-floating chains, eliminating microstructure formation.