Perovskite-Nanocrystal-Doped Cellulose Nanocrystal Ligands for Electrospun Nanofibers with Excellent Stability

Small. 2023 Jun;19(23):e2207685. doi: 10.1002/smll.202207685. Epub 2023 Mar 10.

Abstract

Because of their exceptional physical and thermal properties, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a highly promising bio-based material for reinforcing fillers. Studies have revealed that some functional groups from CNCs can be used as a capping ligand to coordinate with metal nanoparticles or semiconductor quantum dots during the fabrication of novel complex materials. Therefore, through CNCs ligand encapsulation and electrospinning, perovskite-NC-embedded nanofibers with exceptional optical and thermal stability are demonstrated. The results indicate that, after continuous irradiation or heat cycling, the relative photoluminescence (PL) emission intensity of the CNCs-capped perovskite-NC-embedded nanofibers is maintained at ≈90%. However, the relative PL emission intensity of both ligand-free and long-alkyl-ligand-doped perovskite-NC-embedded nanofibers decrease to almost 0%. These results are attributable to the formation of specific clusters of perovskite NCs along with the CNCs structure and thermal property improvement of polymers. CNCs-doped luminous complex materials offer a promising avenue for stability-demanding optoelectronic devices and other novel optical applications.

Keywords: cellulose nanocrystals; electrospinning technique; perovskite; white light-emitting diodes.