Laponite/PANI/QD nanophotovoltaic films

INOR 61

Michael E. Hagerman, hagerman@union.edu and Joanne D. Kehlbeck, kehlbeck@union.edu. Department of Chemistry, Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308
Laponite films exhibit remarkable potential as versatile inorganic nanoscaffolds for the inclusion of laser dyes, polymers, and semiconductor nanocrystals or quantum dots (QDs). We are currently exploring facile strategies for the syntheses of these hybrid nanomaterials based on simple aqueous phase and layer-by-layer self-assembly and vapor phase loading (VPL) methods for the development of nanophotovoltaics with enhanced photoefficiences. Aniline tetramers tethered to CdSe QD surfaces using a bifunctional dithiolate linker were embedded within Cu(II) exchanged Laponite films and polyaniline (PANI) was polymerized in situ using VPL to form the advanced nanocomposite. Optically transparent films on quartz and conductive glass substrates were characterized using UV-VIS, FTIR, and fluorescence spectroscopies coupled with SEM, AFM and powder XRD to study energy transfer, polymer oxidation states, nanotethering, and film morphology and to probe the specific host-guest and guest-guest interactions that mediate nanocomposite photophysical response and self-assembly.