Heteroatom (boron, nitrogen, and fluorine) quantum dot-doped polyaniline-photoactive film preparation and characterization for organic solar cell applications

Abstract

Due to their exceptional optical and electrical qualities, carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are an important material that is employed in numerous applications, including solar cells, bio-imaging, batteries, sensing, and therapy. Due to their ease in converting lower energy photons to higher energy photons, upconversion CQDs (UC-CQDs) play a crucial role in light harvesting applications including solar cells and light-emitting diodes. Moreover, heteroatoms like boron, nitrogen, and fluorine can improve the CQD's optical and electrical properties and modify the band gap. Due to this, we synthesized heteroatom-doped B-CQDs, N-CQDs, and F-CQDs and examined their bandgap characteristics, functional groups, absorption patterns, and emission characteristics. Subsequently, we created photoactive films by electropolymerizing polyaniline (PANI) into the CQDs. The photophysical characteristics of the produced PANI films (PANI-B-CQD, PANI-N-CQD, and PANI-F-CQD) (absorbance, emission, and band gap) are examined spectroscopically, and the electronic characteristics are confirmed by cyclic voltammetry and impedance tests. Also investigated are the surface morphology and functional identification. The possibility of using the PANI-N-CQD as a photoactive material for organic solar cell applications is strongly supported by the characterization shown above.