1. Neslihan Yağmur
25.01.2013
Nanocomposites for Energy
Application
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2. INTRODUCTION
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3. What is Nanocomposite ?
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 Composite materials made from two or more
constituent materials with significantly different
physical or chemical properties, that when
combined, produce a material with characteristics
different from the individual components. If the
size of at least one of the component constituent
is nanometric then the composite is
nanocomposite.
http://www.rsc.org/Publishing/Journals/cp/article.
asp

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Nanocomposites for Solar
Energy Storage

5. Nanocomposites for Solar Energy
Storage
 Electron donor and electron acceptor
materials is used rather
than semiconductor p-n junctions.
 Blending the donor and acceptor phases
together to obtain a nanocomposite material.
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6. • PCBM: [6,6]phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester, acceptor
• P3HT: Poly(3-hexylthiophene), donor
Electron Acceptor and Donor
PCBM
P3HT
P3HT
PCBMITO
Al
3.7 eV
5.1 eV
LUMO
HOMO

7. Electron Acceptor and Donor
P3HT
PCBMITO
Al
3.7 eV
5.1 eV
Light
• Photon
absorption, excitons are
created
• Excitons diffusion to an
interface

8. Electron Acceptor and Donor
P3HT
PCBMITO
Al
3.7 eV
5.1 eV
• Charge separation
due to electric fields
at the interface.
• Separated charges
travel to the
electrodes.

9. Nanocomposites for Solar Energy
Storage
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 There are two ways for fabricating devices.
1. Organic donor- Inorganic acceptor
2. Organic donor – Organic acceptor

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Organic donor- Inorganic acceptor

11. First Type
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 The first structure is the inorganic–organic.
 A nanoporous metal oxide substrate is used as
an acceptor.
 Polymeric material is used as a donor.

12. Inorganic Materials as Acceptor
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1) Carbon Nanotubes
2) ZnO Nanorod or Nanowires
3) TiO2 Nanorods or Nanowires

13. Carbon Nanotubes
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 Nanotubes are
cylindrical fullerenes.
These tubes of
carbon are usually
only a few
nanometres wide, but
they can range from
less than a
micrometer to several
millimeters in length.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullerene#Carbon_nanotubes

14. Advantages of Inorganic
Materials
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 To improve photovoltaic efficiency
 To extend the photovoltaic response into the near
infrared.

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Organic donor – Organic acceptor

16. Second Type
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 The second type of structure is made of a
polymer/polymer or nanoparticles blend, which
allows easy thin film deposition and an intimate
mixing of donor and acceptor.
 The most popular and efficient composite is the
bulk heterojunction polymer/ fullerene (PCBM)
material, which is based on P3HT as a donor and
a soluble fullerene derivative (PCBM) as an
acceptor.

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Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-
butylthiophene)
Nanowires

18. Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-butylthiophene)
Nanowires
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 Suitable poly(3-alkylthiophene) nanowires useful in
the composites of the invention include
1) poly(3-methylthiophene),
2) poly(3-ethylthiophene),
3) poly(3-propylthiophene),
4) poly(3-butylthiophene),
5) poly(3-pentylthiophene),
6) poly(3-hexylthiophene),
7) poly(3-heptylthiophene),
8) poly(3-octylthiophene),
9) poly(3-nonylthiophene),
10) poly(3-decylthiophene) nanowires.
http://www.igm.uni-
stuttgart.de/forschung/arbeitsgebiete/organische_elektronik

19. Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-butylthiophene) Nanowires
Chemical structures of P3BT and C61-PCBM.
Schematic illustration of nanowire network of P3BT/PCBM
composites.19
•D., Olson, Y., Ju Lee, Effect of Polymer Processing on the Performance of Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO Nanorod
Photovoltaic Devices, 2007, 16640-16645

20. Highly Efficient Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-
butylthiophene)
Nanowires
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 TEM (a) and AFM (b) images of P3BT-nw/C61-PCBM
nanocomposites.
•D., Olson, Y., Ju Lee, Effect of Polymer Processing on the Performance of Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO Nanorod Photovoltaic
Devices, 2007, 16640-16645

21. References
•N., Thien-Phap, Surface & Coatings
Technology, Polymer-based nanocomposites for organic
optoelectronic devices, 2011, 742–752
•D., Olson, Y., Ju Lee, Effect of Polymer Processing on
the Performance of Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO
Nanorod Photovoltaic Devices, 2007, 16640-16645
•N., Henry, Polymer Nanocomposite Analysis and
Optimization for Renewable Energy and
Materials, University of Tennessee, 2011
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