Photo voltaic properties

Another interesting applications area for fullerenes is based on materials that can be fabricated using fullerene-doped polymers. Polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) and other selected polymers, such as poly(paraphcnylene-vinylene) (PPV) and phenylmethylpolysilane (PMPS), doped with a mixture of Cgo and C70 have been reported to exhibit exceptionally good photoconductive properties [206, 207, 208] which may lead to the development of future polymeric photoconductive materials. Small concentrations of fullerenes (e.g., by weight) lead to charge transfer of the photo-excited electrons in the polymer to the fullerenes, thereby promoting the conduction of mobile holes in the polymer [209]. Fullerene-doped polymers also have significant potential for use in applications, such as photo-diodes, photo-voltaic devices and as photo-refractive materials. 

In addition to these four fundamental parameters, special electrical properties are recognised like piezo-, pyro-, ferro- and tribo-electricity and photo voltaic/conducting properties. The contribution in this chapter will be limited to three of the four fundamental parameters AC measurements (1A/1B) and DC measurements (2A). Besides, attention will be given to a kind of combination of AC and DC measurements the thermally stimulated discharge (TSD) analysis technique. An analysis technique used to detect relaxation phenomena in organic and anorganic materials. 

The nature of the polymer surface can be expected to affect the stability of polymer structures in nanoscales, where the surface to volume ratio is relatively high. While polymers are now being patterned into nanometer-sized structures in a wide range of applications (eg, electronics, sensors, photonics, and photo-voltaics), the study and understanding of surface properties are of great importance. Robust mechanical stability or the ability to predict the relaxation behavior of these nanostructures is critical for their performance, especially for applications intended for long-term use. 

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