Rodrigo V. Salvatierra

Water based, solution-processable, transparent and flexible graphene oxide composite as electrodes in organic solar cell application

In this work we propose an easy method to achieve a conductive, transparent and flexible graphene oxide (GO)-based composite thin film from an aqueous dispersion. We investigated the blend ratio between GO and the conjugated polymer poly(3,4–ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) by comparing the thin film optical transmittance, sheet resistance, morphology and mechanical stability. It was found that reasonable values of transmittance and resistivity coupled with its excellent flexibility – the conductivity remains almost the same even after 1000 bends cycles – make this composite very attracting for flexible optoelectronic applications. Thus, these films were used as transparent electrodes in a bilayer structured organic solar cell and the device architecture PET/GO:PEDOT/F8T2/C60/Al could reach a power conversion efficiency around 1.10%. This result presents a better performance compared with pristine PEDOT produced with similar parameters.

Synthesis and characterization of carboxyl-substituted polyanilines doped with halogenated acids: combining conductivity with solubility

Copolymers of aniline with anthranilic acid and two esters, ethyl and methyl anthranilate, were prepared through chemical synthesis using a variety of acids as the dopant. All polymers and copolymers were characterized by UV-Vis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies, as well as scanning electron microscopy. The data support the formation of variable amounts of phenazine-like structures due to ortho-coupling polymerization that competes with the para-coupling mode for the construction of the polymer backbone. The electrical conductivity and the solubility in a diversity of solvents were determined and correlated with the spectral data. The copolymers of aniline with anthranilic esters are more soluble than the corresponding polyanilines. In addition, the conductivity of the copolymer with methyl anthranilate doped with trifluoroacetic acid is of the same order of magnitude as that observed for the regular polyanilines. Overall, higher conductivities were obtained for all polymers and copolymers doped with hydrochloric acid and trifluoroacetic acid.

Chapter 9:Graphene–Conducting Polymer Nanocomposites Prepared by Interfacial Polymerization

Nanocomposites of conducting polymers (e.g. polyaniline [PANI], polypyrrole and polythiophene) and carbon nanostructures (mainly carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and recently graphene) are important advanced materials with novel and improved properties compared to the isolated components.1 Similar to other p...