Preparation of nanocellulose-based polyaniline composite film and its application in electrochromic device

With the development of nanotechnology, nano biomaterial based on renewable resource is a hot spot of the current research. In this paper, a relatively new concept of using nanocellulose (NC) as matrix materials, the functionality of the composites has been enhanced by using polyaniline (PANI) as a functional component. Nanocellulose was extracted by swelling cotton pulp with sulphuic acid, following ultrasonic treatment. Composite film of PANI with inclusions 60%NC loadings were prepared using in situ polymerization where aniline-HCl was polymerized with ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS) as oxidant in nanocellulose aqueous suspension. PEDOT:PSS which was a complementary coloring material was used as counter electrode. A viscous polymeric electrolyte (PE) was used in electrochromic device (ECD). The architectural design of device was ITO/NC-PANI/PE/PEDOT:PSS/ITO. The color contrast of the device was achieved as 42.6% at λ_max of 480 nm. The switching speed of ECD for coloring and bleaching were approximately 1.5 and 1.1 s in a range of −1.0 to +0.8 V. The ECD showed high coloration efficiency of 172 cm²/C and remarkable switching stability over 500 cycles.