There is a great deal of interest in using anisotropic nanomaterials for optoelectronic energy conversion because of their tunable optical properties. In particular, plasmonic nanorods have been introduced into semiconductor-based energy harvesting and conversion devices using both top-down (nanoimprint lithography, anodization, and ion-etching) and bottom-up (solution-based processing, electrochemical deposition, and self-assembly of molecules) fabrication techniques. Bottom-up synthesized plasmonic nanorods have the potential to be integrated directly into the active layer of cheaper, lower-process-energy, solution-processable thin-film energy devices. For plasmonic nanorods, gold is the material most commonly employed due to facile bottom-up synthesis, good stability, and reproducibility. Silver nanorods are not as commonly utilized due to the lack of well-developed and reproducible synthesis methods. However, silver nanorods have more advantageous optical properties, such as lower parasitic absorption losses and surface plasmon resonances that can be tuned to span the entire visible range, thus providing better spectral overlap with the semiconductor’s absorption and emission bands and increased efficiency.<br/><br/>The goal of this research project is to synthesize tunable anisotropic silver nanoparticles that can be directly integrated within solution-processable conjugated polymer semiconductors for low-process-energy, energy-efficient light-emitting devices. Many aspects of the polyol synthesis method are investigated to determine their effect on the morphology of the nanoparticles, including: varying the viscosity of the solvent, varying the strength of the reducing agent, heating conditions, and the duration of the synthesis steps. Throughout the synthesis of nanoparticles the reaction is monitored qualitatively and quantitatively, by visual color changes, and UV/Visible extinction spectroscopy. The nanoparticles will be integrated into two main nanoparticle/semiconducting polymer composite designs using solution-based processing: thin film heterostructures and core-shell nanoparticles, which are of interest for large-area and sub-wavelength light sources, respectively. This presentation will discuss our results thus far, which include synthesis of silver nanospheres of various sizes, synthesis of nanowires of various lengths, as well as synthesis of a mixture of nanospheres, nanowires, and nanorods.

Synthesis of tunable anisotropic silver nanorods for polymeric light emitting devices

254th National Meeting (2017)

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