Preparation of near-infrared absorbing composites comprised of conjugated macroligands on the surface of PbS nanoparticles

• Published in: Polymer (Guilford) Vol. 54; no. 21; pp. 5525 - 5533
• Main Authors: Zhang, Jinming, Bahrig, Lydia, Puetz, Andreas, Kanelidis, Ioannis, Lenkeit, Daniel, Pelz, Simon, Hickey, Stephen G., Klein, Michael F.G., Colsmann, Alexander, Lemmer, Uli, Eychmüller, Alexander, Holder, Elisabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 04.10.2013; Elsevier
• Subjects: absorption; Applied sciences; composite polymers; Composites; Conjugated polymers; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Forms of application and semi-finished materials; Functionalization; nanoparticles; Natural energy; Organic polymers; PbS nanocrystals; photovoltaic cells; Photovoltaic conversion; Physicochemistry of polymers; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Polymers with particular properties; Preparation, kinetics, thermodynamics, mechanism and catalysts; semiconductors; Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells; Solar energy; spectroscopy; Technology of polymers; PbS nanocrystals; Functionalization; Conjugated polymers; Ligand substitution; Fullerene compounds; Telechelic polymer; Organic solar cells; Fill factor; Nitrogen heterocycle copolymer; Aromatic copolymer; Alternating copolymer; Nanocomposite; Thiophene derivative copolymer; Nanocrystal; Stille coupling; Short circuit currents; Solution polycondensation; Thiophene copolymer; Experimental study; Absorption spectrum; Open circuit voltage; Organic solution; Conjugated copolymer; Morphology; Preparation; Lead II Sulfides
• ISSN: 0032-3861; 1873-2291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2013.08.038

We report a facile macroligand strategy towards the synthesis of low-bandgap inorganic-organic composites comprised of semiconductor PbS nanoparticles and functional copolymers. For this, thiol-functional thiophene-based macroligands have been used as coligands for PbS nanoparticles. Thus, solution processable organic-inorganic hybrid materials with absorption in the near-infrared have been obtained. The resulting nanoparticle-polymer composites were characterized in detail by optical and FT-IR spectroscopy as well as TEM showing their potential as novel functional inorganic-organic hybrid materials when applied in initial proof-of-concept hybrid photovoltaic devices. [Display omitted]