1. Interaction and energy transfer between single wall carbon nanotubes and a straight chain conjugated polymer in solution
Christopher J. Collison, Department of Chemistry, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY 14623 1. 2. 3.
We have determined a physical interaction between a well-studied conjugated polymer, MEH-PPV, and small diameter single-wall carbon nanotubes (CoMoCat) based on the growth of a new spectral feature in optical absorbance data (N,N-dimethylacetamide as solvent).
The nanotubes substantially quench the fluorescence of the polymers, which also shifts spectrally as a result of induced conformational changes.
As a consequence, fluorescence of SWNT is enhanced through energy transfer. Hence we are investigating the electronic interactions between nanotube and polymer so as to better understand the impact of SWNT usage in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells.
A fluorescence quenching mechanism associated with electron transfer will quantify how viable nanotubes can be as a charge acceptor in such organic photovoltaic devices.