2nd ICOWOBAS RAFSS 2009
COPPER(II) CONJUGATED MIXED-CARBOXYLATES AS SOLARCELL MATERIAL: K2[Cu2(p-OC6H4COO)2(CH3CH=CHCOO)2]
Lailatun Nazirah Ozair* and Norbani Abdullah
1
Chemistry Department, Science Faculty, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
lailatunnazirah@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Dinuclear copper(II) carboxylates are thermally stable magnetic and metallomesogenic
materials. It was postulated that the electronic communication between the two central
copper(II) ions in these materials occur through the ligands, termed the superexchange
pathway. By suitable combination of delocalised electrons from aromatic and conjugated
ligands, these complexes may be tuned as hybrid heat-light solar-cell materials. This
paper discusses the preparation and characterisation of one such complex: K2[Cu2(pOC6H4COO)2(CH3-CH=CHCOO)2]. The preparation involved a facile one-pot reaction
of CuCl2 with an equimolar mixture of CH3-CH=CHCOOK and K2(p-OC6H4COO). The
products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-visible
spectroscopy, emission spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility, thermogravimetry,
differential scanning calorimetry and cyclic voltammetry.
Keywords: copper(II) mixed carboxylate, hybrid solar cell