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Verification of Scherrer formula for well-shaped poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based conductive single crystals and nanofibers and fabrication of photovoltaic devices from thin film coating

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Abstract

Scherrer formula was verified for the single crystals and nanofibers prepared from poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-based homopolymers (non-hairy) and block copolymers (hairy) with polystyrene, poly(methyl methacrylate), and poly(ethylene glycol) in toluene, xylene, and anisole. Despite the fact that he single crystals were grown in very thicker dimensions (57-139 nm) compared to the nanofibers (2-8 nm), the data obtained in the hexyl chains direction from atomic force microscopy and grazing wide angle X-ray scattering using Scherrer formula had a high consistency for both hairy and non-hairy single crystals and nanofibers grown from toluene. This adaption was detected only in toluene for the single crystals, however, in toluene and xylene for the nanofibers. In a better solvent employed in the growth environment, both single crystals and nanofibers were composed of lower number of discrete crystallites in their thickness and longitude. The other effective parameters on the crystallite sizes inside the single crystals and nanofibers in both (100) and (020) directions were the crystallization temperature, the molecular weight of rigid P3HT block, and the end coily blocks. The longer P3HT backbones reflected the thinner and shorter crystallites assembled inside the single crystals (25-87 nm in hexyl chains and 48-166 nm in π-π stacking directions) and nanofibers (2-7 nm in hexyl chains and 2-25 nm in π-π stacking directions). Finally, thin films of pre-developed structures were employed as active layers in P3HT:phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) photovoltaic cells, and the device characteristics were investigated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Polymeric Materials and Faculty of Polymer Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran

    Sahar Zenoozi, Samira Agbolaghi & Mojgan Mahmoudi

  2. Faculty of Chemistry, Tabriz University, Tabriz, Iran

    Elaheh Poormahdi

  3. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Mahdi Hashemzadeh-Gargari

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  1. Sahar Zenoozi
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  2. Samira Agbolaghi
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Correspondence to Samira Agbolaghi.

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Acknowledgments: We express our gratitude to Institute of Polymeric Material at Sahand University of Technology.

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Zenoozi, S., Agbolaghi, S., Poormahdi, E. et al. Verification of Scherrer formula for well-shaped poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based conductive single crystals and nanofibers and fabrication of photovoltaic devices from thin film coating. Macromol. Res. 25, 826–840 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-017-5082-0

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