Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are surface modified to allow for cross coupling grafting of conjugated polymers. Conjugated polyfluorenes are coupled to surface active sites via Yamamoto chemistry, thus imparting some semiconducting properties in the inherently electrically inactive cellulosic material. With graft lengths well within the effective conjugation length (6 &lt; n &lt; 22, M<sub>w</sub> ~ 4500 Da), it is expected that the grafted polymers are able to exhibit electrical functionality. The overall polymer loading is shown to be about 15 wt% of the composite material. As we fabricate devices with these composite CNC/polymer active layer materials, short circuiting becomes a challenge due to the non-uniform film processing of these composite materials. Early turn-on voltages (&lt; 4 V) and high current flows (~ 500 mA) can be attributed to electrodes directly contacting each other through a conductive pathway. By changing the architecture of the active layer, we demonstrate that the presence of CNCs do not absolutely disrupt the emission of light from emissive polymers. Furthermore, we combat the short circuiting phenomenon by employing extra transport layers. The resulting device demonstrates emission from the polymers grafted from the surfaces of CNCs.<br/>

Surface modified cellulose nanocrystals: Investigating cellulose in electronics

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.