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Synthesis and characterization of a charm-bracelet-type poly(N-vinylcarbazole)–C60 double-cable polymer

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Abstract

A charm-bracelet-type poly(N -vinylcarbazole) (PVK)–fullerene (C60) donor–acceptor double-cable polymer was synthesized. The covalent attachment of C60 to PVK was confirmed by 1H NMR and FT-IR spectra. Elemental analysis results provided the information that one C60 molecule was present for every seven N-vinylcarbazole units of the polymer corresponding to a fullerene content of 34.76 wt%. The UV–Visible absorption and cyclic voltammetry data indicated that PVK–C60 retained the electronic properties of both PVK and C60. Density functional theory calculations were carried out to determine the LUMO and HOMO energy levels of PVK–C60. The occurrence of photoinduced electron transfer from PVK to C60 was confirmed by photoluminescence techniques. The positioning of the energy levels of PVK–C60 suggests that there is a great scope for achieving a highly efficient molecular heterojunction solar cell with a high open-circuit voltage.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance from the Department of Science and Technology Govt. of India, New Delhi for this research project (SR/S2/CMP-58/06). They are grateful to Dr. V. Hakkim, Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai for helping with the DFT calculations.

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  1. Department of Materials Science, School of Chemistry, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, 625 021, India

    Alagar Ramar & Ramiah Saraswathi

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  1. Alagar Ramar
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Correspondence to Ramiah Saraswathi.

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Ramar, A., Saraswathi, R. Synthesis and characterization of a charm-bracelet-type poly(N-vinylcarbazole)–C60 double-cable polymer. J Mater Sci 50, 3740–3749 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8936-x

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