Synthesis of colloidal nanocrystals of II-VI semiconductor materials has been refined in recent decades and their size dependent optoelectronic properties have been well established. Here we report a facile synthesis of CdSe-CdS core-shell heterostructures using a two-step hot injection process. Red-shifts in absorption and photoluminescence spectra show that the obtained quantum dots have quasi-type-II alignment of energy levels. The obtained nanocrystals have a heterostructure with a large and highly faceted tetrahedral CdS shell grown epitaxially over a spherical CdSe core. The obtained morphology as well as high resolution electron microscopy confirms that the tetrahedral shell have a zinc blende crystal structure. A phenomenological mechanism for the growth and morphology of the nanocrystals is discussed.

Poly-(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) has been applied in many fields such as organic solar cells, printed electronic circuits, due to superior semiconducting properties compared to other semiconducting polymers. The presence of p-p interaction causes regio-regular P3HT to form ordered lamellar stacks during crystallisation. Here we report a simple room temperature, solution based method to synthesise P3HT nanofibres with controllable sizes. Our method is based on differing solubility of P3HT in various solvents. In a mixed solvent environment, we could control the precipitation of P3HT to obtain nanofibres with various diameters by varying the ratios of the solvents. We found that the lengths of the nanofibres could be controlled with concentration of the solution. Other methods to obtain nanofibres of P3HT invariably involves heating and controlled cooling which makes reproducibility and morphology control difficult. Furthermore, we synthesised a nanocomposite consisting of P3HT nanofibres and quasi-type-II quantum dots and evaluated the photoelectric properties of the nanofibres as well as the nanocomposites using interdigitated gold microelectrodes.

Here we show the dependence of the degree of degradation of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) films on the conductivity of the supporting substrate. P3HT is widely used for organic solar cells and electronic devices because it allows simple, low cost fabrication and has potential for the fabrication of flexible devices. However, P3HT is known to have a relatively low photostability, and investigating the photodegradation mechanism is an active research field. We find that P3HT films on conductive substrates show significantly retarded degradation and retain their chemical and morphological features when compared to similar films on glass substrates. This 'substrate effect' in retarding the degradation of P3HT films is evident even upon prolonged exposure to air for up to five months.

Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) have gained significant attention due to their tunable band gap, simple solution processability, ease of scale-up, and low cost. By carefully choosing the materials, core-shell heterostructure QDs (HQDs) can be further synthesized with a controlled spatial spread of wave functions of the excited electrons and holes for various applications. Many investigations have been done to understand the exciton dynamics by optical characterizations. However, these spectroscopic data demonstrate that the spatial separation of the excitons cannot distinguish the distribution of excited electrons and holes. In this work, we report a simple and directmethod to determine the localized holes and delocalized electrons in HQDs. The quasi-type-II CdSe-CdS core-shell QDs were synthesized via a thermolysis method. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofiber and ZnO nanorods were selected as hole and electron conductor materials, respectively, and were combined with HQDs to form two different nanocomposites. Photoelectrical properties were evaluated under different environments via a quick and facile characterization method, confirming that the electrons in the HQDs were freely accessible at the surface of the nanocrystal, while the holes were confined within the CdSe core.

The nanofiber morphology of regioregular Poly-3- hexylthiophene (P3HT) is a 1D crystalline structure organized by π - π stacking of the backbone chains. In this study, we report the impact of electric field on the orientation and optical properties of P3HT nanofibers dispersed in liquid solution. We demonstrate that alternating electric field aligns nanofibers, whereas static electric field forces them to migrate towards the cathode. The alignment of nanofibers introduces anisotropic optical properties, which can be dynamically manipulated until the solvent has evaporated. Time resolved spectroscopic measurements revealed that the electro-optical response time decreases significantly with the magnitude of applied electric field. Thus, for electric field 1.3 V ·μm-1 the response time was measured as low as 20 ms, while for 0.65 V ·μm-1 it was 110-150 ms. Observed phenomenon is the first mention of P3HT supramolecules associated with electrooptical effect. Proposed method provides real time control over the orientation of nanofibers, which is a starting point for a novel practical implementation. With further development P3HT nanofibers can be used individually as an anisotropic solution or as an active component in a guest-host system.

Abstract: Poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) is one of the most studied conjugated polymers for organic solar cell applications due to its light weight, flexible processing methods and low cost fabrication. However, the hole mobility in P3HT is still relatively low compared to that of the inorganic semiconductors, which is one of the main challenges to achieve better performance of organic solar cells. The P3HT nanofibers with aligned by inducing an external electric field have been studied to improve the hole mobility in P3HT nanofibers. Here we present an AC electric field (1.3 V/µm, 50 Hz) induced alignment of P3HT nanofibers with two different lengths. The optical absorption spectra of aligned nanofibers were measured under different polarizations of incident light. The longer nanofibers showed higher dichroic raitos than that of shorter nanofibers, revealing a better alignment pattern. The photoconductivity of non-aligned and aligned P3HT nanofibers were measured and compared, where the aligned P3HT nanofibers showed a ~270% higher dark current than that of non-aligned sample. Moreover, the current measured under the illumination showed ~110% enhancement in the aligned P3HT nanofibers while only ~70% enhancement was obseved in non-aligned nanofibers, revealing that the alignment process have the potential to improve the mobility for optoelectronic applications.