Promoting Noncovalent Intermolecular Interactions
Using a C60 Core Particle in Aqueous PC60s-Covered Colloids
for Ultraefficient Photoinduced Particle Activity
Version 2 2021-08-24, 19:06Version 2 2021-08-24, 19:06
Version 1 2019-10-11, 11:35Version 1 2019-10-11, 11:35
journal contribution
posted on 2021-08-24, 19:06authored byYu Jin Kim, Troy D. Loeffler, Zhaowei Chen, Subramanian K.
R. S. Sankaranarayanan
Noncovalent intermolecular interactions in nanomaterials, such
as van der Waals effects, allow adjustment of the nanoscopic size
of compounds and their conformation in molecular crystal regimes.
These strong interactions permit small particle sizes to be maintained
as the crystals grow. In particular, these effects can be leveraged
in the confined/reinforcing phase of molecules. With this in mind,
we used C60 molecules as a core particle in single-PC60
surfactant-covered colloid in a water-processable system. Compared
with our previous results based on a PC61BM core–PC60
shell particle, the PC60-C60 colloid had a considerably
smaller spherical structure due to the increased intermolecular interactions
between C60 (fullerene) molecules. Interestingly, the conformation
of C60 aggregates was altered depending on the mixed solvents
and their volume fraction in the organic phase, which strongly affected
the structural properties of the PC60-C60 colloids. The
particle facilitated strong interactions with a p-type core sphere
when it was introduced as the shell part of a p–n heterojunction
particle. This direct interaction provided effective electronic communication
between p- and n-type particles, resulting in ultraefficient photonic
properties, particularly in charge separation in aqueous heterostructured
colloids. This enabled the development of an extremely efficient photovoltaic
device with a 6.74% efficiency, which could provide the basis for
creating high-performance water-processable solar cells based on p–n
heterostructured NPs.