Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Nanofibers Fabricated by Electrospinning and Their Optical Properties
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1270-II06-93
Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Nanofibers Fabricated by Electrospinning and Their Optical Properties Surawut Chuangchote, Michiyasu Fujita, Takashi Sagawa*, and Susumu Yoshikawa* Institute of Advanced Energy, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Kyoto 611-0011, Japan E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] ABSTRACT Beaded fibers and/or uniform, smooth-surface fibers of conductive polymers with the average diameters ranging in nanometers to sub-micrometers were fabricated by electrospinning of a mixture of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in a mixed solvent of chlorobenzene and methanol. After the removal of PVP from as-spun fibers by Soxhlet extraction, pure P3HT fibers were obtained as a spindle-like with groove-like morphological appearance which may be widely applicable for some specific applications, such as photovoltaic cells, thin film transistors, and light emitting diodes. Optical properties, including UV absorption and photoluminescence (PL) of fibers were investigated. As-spun fibers showed relatively higher conjugation length and different chain distribution, in comparison with the cast film. INTRODUCTION Since the discovery of the electrical conductivity in π-conjugated polymers thirty years ago [1], conductive polymers have become the focus of intense development and research activities around the world. Their use as organic semiconductors and synthetic metals in various optical and electrical applications has led to rapid growth of the field. Many different families of conjugated polymers are being studied. Among them, polythiophene and its derivatives represent an interesting family because of their nonlinear optical characteristics, photo- and electroluminescent properties, and charge-carrier mobility, which make them attractive for use in applications that include organic light-emitting diodes, transistors, and especially solar cells [2-3]. One-dimensional characteristic-ultrafine fibers have been interested recently because when the diameters of polymeric materials are shrunk to sub-micrometers or nanometers, there appear to be several specific characteristics such as improved mechanical performance, very large surface area to volume ratio, and flexibility in surface functionalities [4]. Among various fibers processing technique, electrospinning has become one of simple techniques, which uses electrostatic forces to produce polymeric, ceramics, and composite continuous ultrafine fibers with diameters ranging from microns down to a few nanometers [4]. Recently, we have reported the fabrication of conductive polymer nanofibers of poly[2methoxy-5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-vinylene] (MEHPPV), by electrospinning with blending of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) [5-7]. Ultrafine MEH-PPV fibers could be obtained from electrospinning and subsequent Soxhlet extraction. Obtained fibers were applied to organic photovoltaic cells [8]. We here report an attempt to apply this technique to fabricate ultrafine nanofibers of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Optic
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