Sustainable bio-based materials offer interesting opportunities for applications in optical and electronic applications. Not only do they offer the obvious advantages for the environment and sustainable future, but they also could provide for improved performance and novel applications. The broad array of bio-based chemistries as well as intriguing approaches to growth and assembly provide new vistas for these applications. Bio-based synthesis and assembly can be significantly more efficient than complex chemical methods providing for enhanced and lower-cost manufacture and facile scale-up.<br/>We report on several projects related to two material classes. The first is bacterial cellulose mats. These mats are exuded by bacteria and form microfibrils that form a three-dimensional connected nanoscale membrane. The resulting mats provide the exceptional material properties of cellulose in a nanoscale network that is easily scaled. We have developed a method for producing ultra-thin mats that are well-suited for optical and optoelectronic devices. We report on antireflection coatings on silicon substrates that have the potential to increase the efficiency of silicon solar cells. We have also fabricated electro-optic transparency switches in liquid crystal infiltrated mats of varying thickness, porosity, and surface energy and studied the physics of their phase transitions and switching behavior.<br/>We have also explored the self-assembly and optical properties of a novel series of sophorolipid-functionalized porphyrin molecular structures. The building-blocks display a interplay among steric, pi-pi and hydrogen bonding interactions, the latter of which results in helical polymers. Structural modifications were observed to finely tune the self-assembly. Spectroscopic studies show that helical supramolecular structures form by strong carbohydrate hydrogen-bonding interactions. Modification of the sophorolipid hydrocarbon chain was observed to reverse the helicity. Finally, it was observed by temperature-dependent UV/vis absorption and circular dichroism that helical supramolecular polymerization proceeds through a cooperative mechanism of self-assembly.

Bio-based materials for optoelectronic applications

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.