Direct Synthesis of P3Ht/Cds Nanocomposites with End-Functionalized P3Ht as the Template

In this article, we report a direct synthetic route to prepare P3HT/CdS nanocomposites with cadmium acetate dihydrate (Cd(OOCCH ₃ ) ₂ .2H ₂ O) used as the cadmium source, sulfur powder (S) as the sulfur source, dichlorobenzene (DCB) and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as cosolvents, phosphonic ester end-functionalized P3HT as a conjugated polymer template. The as-prepared P3HT/CdS nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( ¹ H NMR) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, transmission electron microscope (TEM), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The results showed that the size and distribution of CdS nanocrystals were not only temperature-dependent, but also greatly influenced by the S/Cd molar ratio. CdS nanocrystals were dispersed uniformly in the P3HT/CdS nanocomposites, which indicated that end-functionalized P3HT could be used as a template to prevent CdS from aggregating effectively. The occurrence of charge transfer at the P3HT/ CdS interface was evident from UV-vis absorption and PL studies, which indicated that ionic bonding between CdS nanocrystals and phosphonic ester end-functionalized P3HT can promote the transfer of charge in P3HT/ CdS nanocomposites. Therefore, it is a promising method to simplify the procedure for large-scale synthesis of organic-inorganic nanocomposites used in solar cells with high photoelectric conversion efficiency.