ELECTRICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ZN AND ZNO NANOWIRES GROWN ON PEDOT:PSS CONDUCTIVE THIN FILMS BY PHYSICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
PEDOT:PSS (poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene:polystyrenesulfonate) is an organic p-type polymer that has been widely studied due to its high electrical conductivity and excellent film forming abilities. It is easily processed from aqueous solutions, exhibits high transparency in the visible range, and is remarkably stable under environmental, thermal, and mechanical stresses. PEDOT:PSS has been used in antistatic coatings and pyroelectric sensors, and is commonly employed as a hole-injecting/transport layer in organic electronics such as light emitting diodes, field effect transistors, and photovoltaic cells. The addition of inorganic or metallic nanostructures to form nanocomposites has recently emerged as a popular method of modifying the properties of such polymers. The incorporation of semiconducting zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and nanowires is of particular interest in the formation of these hybrid materials because ZnO has a wide direct band gap (~3.3 eV) and a large exciton binding energy (~60 meV). ZnO is also easily manufactured, low cost, and non-toxic. Hybrid materials formed with ZnO nanoparticles have been widely studied for their use as active layers in organic devices. Typical techniques for fabricating these nanostructures include sol-gel colloidal chemical deposition, chemical vapor deposition, sputter deposition and laser ablation deposition. Physical vapor deposition (PVD) techniques offer tremendous possibilities for easy fabrication of nanostructure arrays for use in thin film electronics. In this study we examine inorganic/organic heterojunctions produced by growing conductive Zn and semiconductive ZnO nanowire arrays on organic conductive PEDOT:PSS polymer thin films using simple and cost-effective PVD methods.
Additional Abstract Information
Student(s): Matthew P. Chamberlin
Department: Physics and Astronomy
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Costel Constantin
Type: Poster
Year: 2012
