Chalcone‐Incorporated Methyl Cellulose Based Polymer Composite Films With Tunable Optical and Electrical Properties

ABSTRACT

Biodegradable polymer films doped with functional organic chromophores have received much attention owing to their flexible physicochemical properties and diverse applications in optical and electronic devices. In this work, chalcone doped methyl cellulose (CDMC) films containing different concentrations of a synthesized sulfur‐containing chalcone were prepared by the solution casting method. The synthesized chalcone was characterized using FTIR, NMR, and mass spectrometry; on the other hand, CDMC films have been characterized by XRD, UV–Visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence, thermogravimetric analysis, and impedance spectroscopy. XRD analysis along with peak deconvolution revealed that the films are mostly amorphous, and there is an increase in the value of the crystallinity percentage from 21.4% for pristine film to 29.2% for CDMC 0.5% film, followed by a decrease in the value to 18.3% for CDMC 2% film. Thermal stability has been observed in the presence of the chalcone in CDMC films. All CDMC films exhibit stable blue luminescence around 480 nm. The maximum ionic conductivity of 8.90 × 10 ⁻⁵  S cm ⁻¹ has been found in the CDMC 0.5% film, and transport parameters along with Arrhenius plots proved the thermally activated hopping conduction mechanism with activation energy ~0.45 eV.