Search results for "FULLERENE"
showing 10 items of 197 documents
Influence of the intermediate density-of-states occupancy on open-circuit voltage of bulk heterojunction solar cells with different fullerene accepto…
2010
Electron density of states (DOS) and recombination kinetics of bulk heterojunction solar cells consisting of a poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) donor and two fullerene acceptors, either [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) or 4,4′-dihexyloxydiphenylmethano[60]fullerene (DPM6), have been determined by means of impedance spectroscopy. The observed difference of 125 mV in the output open-circuit voltage is attributed to significant differences of the occupancy of the DOS in both fullerenes. Whereas DPM6 exhibits a full occupation of the electronic band, occupancy is restricted to the tail of the DOS in the case of PCBM-based devices, implying a higher rise of the Fermi level in the D…
Enhanced power-conversion efficiency in organic solar cells incorporating copolymeric phase-separation modulators
2018
A new class of copolymers containing oligothiophene moieties with different lengths and fullerene units have been designed and prepared by an easy and inexpensive one-step synthetic approach. The incorporation of small quantities of these copolymers into bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells with donor regioregular polythiophene (P3HT) and an acceptor fullerene derivate (PCBM) results in good control of the phase separation process without further affecting the BHJ optoelectronic properties. Indeed, under thermal annealing these copolymers allow the modulation of the growth of domains whose size depends on the length of the copolymer repetitive units. Domain size on the same length scale as…
X-ray diffraction study of crystallographic parameters and debye temperature of c60 single crystals
2002
Abstract The cubic lattice parameter value a =1.41568±0.00006 nm of large size C 60 single crystal has been measured and Debye temperature T D =53.9 K from the X-ray scattering spectrum at a fixed temperature was obtained. The microhardness and dislocation structure of the crystals was examined.
Second-layer induced island morphologies in thin-film growth of fullerenes.
2011
Deposition of fullerenes on the CaF(2)(111) surface yields peculiar island morphologies with close similarities to previous findings for (100) surfaces of other ionic crystals. By means of noncontact atomic force microscopy we find a smooth transition from compact, triangular islands to branched hexagonal islands upon lowering the temperature. While triangular islands are two monolayers high, hexagonal islands have a base of one monolayer and exhibit a complicated structure with a second-layer outer rim and trenches oriented towards the interior. By developing a kinetic growth model we unravel the microscopic mechanisms of the structure formation.
Atmosphere-induced change of microhardness and plasticity of C60 single crystals and polycrystalline films
1998
Abstract The effect of air exposure and visible light illumination on the microhardness, plasticity and dislocation mobility in the C60 single crystals was investigated. Microhardness values for defined structural states of the fullerene (pristine, oxygen-intercalated, photo-oxidized) are reported. It has been shown that oxygen intercalation in the fullerene lattice during air-aging in the dark results in the suppression of dislocation mobility. However, only a slight increase in the hardness of oxygenated samples was observed. A remarkable increase in the hardness and decrease in the plasticity of the C60 crystals under illumination-assisted air exposure was noted. Photochemical transforma…
Cluster nature of the solvent features of single-wall carbon nanohorns
2009
The existence of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) in organic solvents, in the form of clusters, is discussed. A theory is developed based on a bundlet model for clusters, describing the distribution function of clusters by size. The phenomena have a unified explanation in the bundlet model of clusters, in accordance with which the free energy of an SWNT, involved in a cluster, is combined from two components: a volume one, proportional to the number of molecules n in a cluster, and a surface one proportional to n1/2. The bundlet model for clusters enables describing the distribution function of SWNT clusters by size. The droplet model is formally analogous to the one for fullerene clust…
Charge-transfer interactions between fullerenes and a mesoporous tetrathiafulvalene-based metal–organic framework
2019
The design of metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) incorporating electroactive guest molecules in the pores has become a subject of great interest in order to obtain additional electrical functionalities within the framework while maintaining porosity. Understanding the charge-transfer (CT) process between the framework and the guest molecules is a crucial step towards the design of new electroactive MOFs. Herein, we present the encapsulation of fullerenes (C60) in a mesoporous tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-based MOF. The CT process between the electron-acceptor C60 guest and the electron-donor TTF ligand is studied in detail by means of different spectroscopic techniques and density functional theor…
Bending Sensors Based on Thin Films of Semitransparent Bithiophene-Fulleropyrrolidine Bisadducts
2020
In this study, a novel bithiophene‐fulleropyrrolidine bisadducts system (bis‐Th2PC 60 ) was synthesized and electropolymerized by chronoamperometry onto flexible ITO/PET substrates. The resulting semitransparent thin film was characterized by XPS, FT‐IR, cyclic voltammetry and optical techniques, confirming the good outcome of the electropolymerization process. AFM investigations permitted to highlight an inherent disordered granular morphology, in which the grain‐to‐grain separation depends upon the application of bending. The electrical resistance of the thin film was characterized as function of bending (in the range 0°‐90°), showing promising responsivity to low bending angles (10°‐30°)…
Advanced ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene/antioxidant-functionalized carbon nanotubes nanocomposites with improved thermo-oxidative resistance
2015
Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) functionalized with hindered phenol moieties are dispersed in ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), and the stabilizing action of the antioxidant (AO) functionalized CNTs (AO-f-CNTs) is studied through a combination of rheological and spectroscopic (FT-IR) analyses. The effectiveness of two alternative compounding methods, namely hot compaction (HC) and melt mixing (MM), is compared. The combination of high temperature and mechanical stress experienced during MM brings about noticeable degradation phenomena of the matrix already in the course of the compounding step. Differently, the milder conditions of the HC process preserve the stability …
Relaxation of photogenerated carriers in P3HT:PCBM organic blends.
2009
Relaxing in the sunlight. Long time-transient decays of photogenerated carriers in P3HT:PCBM blends for organic solar cells are interpreted in terms of the relaxation of hole carriers in a broad density of states. The after-pulse time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) decays observed in P3HT:PCBM blends display a dependence on time close to t−β, independent of excitation intensity, in the 10 ns–1 μs range. This is explained in terms of the relaxation of carriers in a Gaussian density of states (DOS). The model is based on a demarcation level that moves with time by thermal release and retrapping of initially trapped carriers. The model shows that when the disorder is large the after-pu…