ABSTRACT
A surface-bound photocatalyst offers advantages of reusability and recyclability with ease. While it can be immobilized by spin coating or drop-casting, a more reliable and durable method involves the formation of a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) on a suitable surface using designer molecules. In this paper, we report devising a practical, durable, and recyclable photocatalytic surface using immobilized polytriazoles of diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP). While the SAM formation techniques were utilized for superior results, conventional coatings of polymers on surfaces were performed for comparison. Different methods confirmed efficient immobilization and high grafting density for the SAM technique. Computational models suggested favorable energy parameters for active materials. Photocatalytic studies were performed using both immobilized polymers and polymers in solution for comparison. These findings are important for understanding various physicochemical characteristics of polytriazole-functionalized surfaces.
ABSTRACT
Diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based polymers are often considered as the most promising donor moiety in traditional bulk heterojunction solar cell devices. In this paper, we report the synthesis, characterization of various DPP-based copolymers with different molecular weights, and polydispersity where other aromatic repeating units (phenyl or thiophene based) are connected by alternate double bonds or triple bonds. Some of the copolymers were used for device fabrication and the crucial parameters such as fill factor (FF) and open circuit voltage (V oc) were calculated. The density functional theory was used to optimize the geometries and deduce highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gaps of all the polymers and theoretically predict their optical and electronic properties. Optical properties of all the polymers, electrochemical properties, and band gaps were also obtained experimentally and compared with the theoretically predicted values.
