Optimum chemical states and localized electronic states of SnO2 integrated PTh– SnO2 nanocomposites as excelling emissive layer (EML)

Luminescent PTh–SnO 2 nanocomposite was synthesized via chemical oxidative polymerization technique in presence of thiophene monomer with varying concentrations of SnO 2 nanoparticles. The physico-chemical and morphological studies revealed the integration of SnO 2 nanoparticles in the polythiophene matrix of PTh–SnO 2 nanocomposites. Particle size of the derived nanocomposite laid in the 16–31 nm range and it was examined using HR-TEM. The optimized binary nanocomposite (15% PTh–SnO 2 ) showed inflated thermal stability than pure PTh due to integration of SnO 2 nanoparticles in PTh matrix. Further, it exhibited reduced optical band gap of 2.07 eV that was attributed to the inserted SnO 2 nanoparticles which formed the localized electronic states in the optical band gap of PTh. Highest photoluminescence emission intensity was recorded for yellow-green band (∼562 nm) of 15% PTh–SnO 2 and three emission bands (∼451 nm, ∼468 nm and ∼620 nm) of notable intensities were also observed. Photometric analysis of 15% PTh–SnO 2 sample finally gives the emission color in blue-green region (near to white light) which enabled it to be used as successful emissive layer for its application in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). • Pth-SnO 2 nanocomposites were successfully synthesized in varying concentrations via the chemical oxidative polymerization. • Successful formation of Pth and Pth-SnO 2 nanocomposites were confirmed by XRD, FE-SEM, FTIR, Raman and XPS analysis. • Photoluminescence intensity gradually increases with filler concentration. • Optimum photoluminescence emission intensity was recorded for 15% Pth-SnO 2 nanocomposite. • The color purity was calculated ∼8.57% for optimized 15% Pth-SnO 2 nanocomposite.