Modified eco-friendly and biodegradable chitosan-based sustainable semiconducting thin films

Abstract

Semiconducting materials are pivotal in various fields, such as solar cells, LEDs, photovoltaic cells, etc. A nature-friendly chitosan is a good film-forming, water-soluble polymer that is modified to a small band-gap polymer for various optoelectronic applications. Choline chloride:ethylene glycol:glycerin (1:1:1) deep eutectic solvent (DES)-modified activated carbon is incorporated into the chitosan matric and this composite is fabricated into thin films via spin coating methodology. The obtained films are subjected to multiple studies such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), impedance spectroscopy, and UV–vis spectroscopy to perceive the thin-films microstructure, morphology, conductance, band gap, and optical nature. The integration of DES-modified activated carbon has significantly improved the charge transfer capacity of chitosan by reducing the band gap from 4.0 to 2.0 eV. These notable characteristics exhibited by the modified films can be key to sustainable semiconducting materials and have the potential to transform several optoelectronic applications.