Methods for preparing a NiOx:electron acceptor nanocomposite based film and optoelectronic devices incorporating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9972780-B1
Application number	US-201715403855-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 11, 2017
Priority date	Jan 11, 2017
Publication date	May 15, 2018
Grant date	May 15, 2018

Abstract

A NiO x :electron acceptor nanocomposite based film is prepared by synthesizing NiO x nanoparticles (NPs) by a solvothermal synthesis treatment; dispersing the NiO x NPs and an electron acceptor into an alcohol solvent to form a NiO x :electron acceptor solution; conducting an ultrasonic treatment on the NiO x :electron acceptor solution; and solution-processing the NiO x :electron acceptor solution onto a substrate to form a NiO x :electron acceptor nanocomposite based film on the substrate. The film may be used to form an optoelectronic device such as solar cell, a light emitting diode, a laser, or a photodetector.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for preparing a NiO x :electron acceptor nanocomposite based film, comprising the steps of:
synthesizing NiO x nanoparticles (NPs) by a solvothermal synthesis method;
dispersing the NiO x NPs and an electron acceptor into an alcohol solvent to form a NiO x :electron acceptor solution;
conducting an ultrasonic treatment on the NiO x :electron acceptor solution; and
solution-processing the NiO x :electron acceptor solution onto a substrate to form a NiO x :electron acceptor nanocomposite based film on the substrate.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NiO x is a composite consisting essentially of NiO and other species selected from nickelic oxide (Ni 2 O 3 ), nickel oxide hydroxide (NiOOH), and nickel hydroxide Ni(OH) 2 .

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electron acceptor has a general chemical formula of F x -TCNQ, wherein x=0, 1, 2, 3, 4.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electron acceptor is selected from a group consisting of 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), 2-fluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F1-TCNQ), 2,3-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,3-F2-TCNQ), 2,5-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,5-F2-TCNQ), 2,6-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,6-F2-TCNQ), 2,3,5-trifluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,3,5-F3-TCNQ), 2,3,6-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,3,6-F3-TCNQ), 2,5,6-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (2,5,6-F3-TCNQ), 3,5,6-difluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (3,5,6-F3-TCNQ), and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alcohol solvent has a general chemical formula of C n H 2n+1 OH, wherein n is a positive integer.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alcohol solvent is selected from a group consisting of methanol (CH 3 OH), ethanol (C 2 H 5 OH), propanol (C 3 H 7 OH), and butanol (C 4 H 9 OH).

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is glass, silicon, Indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) coated glass, or any of them coated with semiconductor materials.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the substrate is ITO coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET), ITO coated polyethylene-naphthalate (PEN), ITO coated polyimide (PI), FTO coated PET, FTO coated PEN, and FTO coated PI, or any of them coated with semiconductor materials.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the film is solution-processed onto the substrate without a pre-treatment of the substrate and without a post-treatment of the film,
wherein the pre-treatment is ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) treatment or oxygen-plasma treatment, and
wherein the post-treatment is UVO treatment, oxygen-plasma treatment, or annealing.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the solution-processing is one of casting spin-coating, doctor blading, ink jet printing, spray coating and roll-to-roll coating.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the concentration of the electron acceptor is changed such that the work function of NiO x :electron acceptor based film is tuned.

Assignees

• Univ Hong Kong

Inventors

• Choy Wallace C H
• Cheng Jiaqi

Classifications

• C01P2006/40

  Electric properties · CPC title

• B05D3/145

  After-treatment · CPC title

• B05D1/005

  Spin coating · CPC title

• B05D1/02

  performed by spraying · CPC title

• C01G53/04 Primary

  Oxides · CPC title