Studies on photoconductivity of C60 and C60-doped poly(vinylchloride)

Single crystals of buckminsterfullerene (C60) were grown by low-temperature solution growth technique. Using the same technique, poly(vinylchloride) was doped with 1% of C60 by mass. FTIR spectra were recorded for pure C60, pure poly(vinylchloride) and C60-doped poly(vinylchloride) by Bruker IFS 66V FTIR spectrometer. From the nature of the FTIR spectrum of the C60-doped material, it is found that the material is polycrystalline and the presence of C60 has been confirmed. The absorption spectra for C60 and C60-doped PVC samples were recorded using SL159 UV–vis spectrophotometer. Photoconductivity studies were also made for these materials. It was interesting to observe that the C60-PVC exhibited negative photoconductivity. Stockmann model has been successfully applied to explain this behaviour of the doped sample.