Herein, a polymer based on fluorene and benzothiadiazole (PFBT) was covalently grafted on brominated graphene (G-PFBT) sheets via Suzuki coupling reaction and characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis), fluorescence emission (FL), and 1H-NMR spectroscopy. The obtained composite shows good solubility in organic solvents such as THF, DMF, and toluene, which is beneficial for the solution casting of device fabrication. In addition, photoinduced charge transfer was observed between the conjugated polymer donor and graphene acceptor, which was also an advantage of using G-PFBT in solar cells. The open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current density, and fill factor of a photovoltaic device based on G-PFBT are 0.22 V, 1.42 mA cm−2, and 0.26, respectively.

Correction for ‘Soluble fluorene–benzothiadiazole polymer-grafted graphene for photovoltaic devices’ by Junying He et al., RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 35950–35956.

Graphene is well-dispersed into a silicone encapsulant of a light-emitting diode (LED) through a simple solvent-exchange method. The embedded graphene sheets play a multifunctional role in producing a high-performance encapsulant. Compared with pure silicone encapsulant, the tensile strength of the graphene-based materials significantly increased by 46% and elongation at break decreased only by 7% with the incorporation of 0.1 wt% graphene. Furthermore, the presence of graphene can absorb twice as much UV light as pure silicone, which can protect chip and encapsulant. High transmittance values (>90%) were achieved over 400–800 nm for 5 mm-thick encapsulant film containing 0.01 wt% graphene. The refractive index, thermal stability, and dimensional stability also dramatically increased. Owing to their multifunctionality, these hybrid materials are feasible candidates for LED encapsulation.