Organic photovoltaics (OPV) is one of the most dynamic and rapidly developing solar cell technologies leading to renewable I green energy. OPVs arc based on organic semiconductors such as conjugated polymers, ful1erenes and other small molecules. Such devices can be fabricated by low-cost, roil-ta-roil printing techniques by layering extremely thin photoactive coatings on lightweight, flexible substrates which maybe organic in nature as well. Various OPV technologies are being developed in industrial and academic research fields where OPVs are on its way to broad commercialisation. To improve the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) further researchers have looked into embedding nano-scale materials in OPVs over the last few years. The leading potential candidates being, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene, due to their extraordinary electronic properties and quantum dots with their tunable size dependant electronic properties. In this thesis, the effect of utilising single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as hole transport layers in bulk-hetero junction (BHJ) OPVs has been studied using a polymer wrapping technique of SWNTs for dispersion purposes. Supramolecular interactions based on π-π stacking between poly(3-hexylthiophcnc-2,5-diyl)poly(3-hcxylthiophene) (rr-P3HT) and SWNTs are exploited to prepare self-assembled networks of nanohybrid structures for hole extraction in OPVs. The effectiveness of such a network for hole transport is demol1strated, with the hole extraction capability shown to be associated with the potential of SWNTs being hole-doped by the surrounding rr-P3IlT sheath.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:608347 |
| Date | January 2013 |
| Creators | Dabera, Gangodawilage D. |
| Publisher | University of Surrey |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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