Aligning Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes By Means Of Langmuir–Blodgett Film Deposition: Optical,Morphological, and Photo‐electrochemical Studies |
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Authors: | Gabriele Giancane Andrés Ruland Vito Sgobba Daniela Manno Antonio Serra Gianluca M. Farinola Omar Hassan Omar Dirk M. Guldi Ludovico Valli |
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Affiliation: | 1. Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell'Innovazione, Università del Salento 73100 Lecce (Italy);2. Department of Chemistry and Pharmacy & Interdisciplinary Center for Molecular Materials University Erlangen‐Nürnberg Egerlandstr. 3, 91058 Erlangen (Germany);3. Dipartimento di Scienza dei Materiali, Università del Salento 73100 Lecce (Italy);4. Dipartimento di Chimica, Università dei Bari, CNR, ICCOM 70125 Bari (Italy) |
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Abstract: | An alkoxy‐substituted poly(phenylene thiophene) is used in order to suspend single‐walled carbon nanotubes in an organic solvent. The suspension is spread on the air–water interface of a Langmuir trough and the floating film is characterized by means of Brewster angle microscopy and UV‐visible reflection spectroscopy and the compression isotherm is recorded. The polymer/carbon‐nanotube blend is transferred onto different substrates using the Langmuir–Blodgett technique. AFM measurements indicate the formation of globular structures for the samples transferred at low surface‐pressure values and a tubular morphology for high‐pressure‐deposited samples. AFM analysis is repeated on a sample exposed to soft X‐rays for about 5 h and a highly organized structure of bundles of carbon nanotubes rises up. Samples with different numbers of layers are transferred onto ITO substrates by means of the Langmuir–Blodgett method and are tested as photocathodes in a photo‐electrochemical cell. A Voc of 0.18 V, an Isc of 85.8 mA, FF of 40.0%, and η of (6.23 × 10?3)% are obtained. |
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Keywords: | carbon nanotubes langmuir– blodgett deposition solar cells |
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