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Optical waveguiding and morphology of chitosan thin films
Author(s) -
Jiang Hao,
Su W.,
Caracci S.,
Bunning T. J.,
Cooper T.,
Adams W. W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19960815)61:7<1163::aid-app12>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - chitosan , materials science , doping , thin film , amorphous solid , scattering , absorption (acoustics) , metal ions in aqueous solution , metal , optics , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , composite material , chemistry , crystallography , physics , engineering , metallurgy
An investigation was made of the optical and waveguiding properties of thin films fabricated from solutions of chitosan‐acetic acid (chitosan/HAc) and chitosan/HAc doped with rare‐earth metal ions (Er +++ or Nd +++ ). For all three films, the refractive indices were approximately 1.5 and there was nearly no absorption in the range of 300 to 2700 nm. The optical loss in a waveguides was less than 0.5 dB/cm. Morphological observations disclosed that all the films possessed a dense and homogeneous amorphous structure with smooth surfaces. Extrinsic scattering, especially the scattering caused by surface impurities, was the dominating factor affecting the optical loss value. It is also interesting to note that for all the films, doped with rare‐earth metal ions or not, the morphological characteristics were alike and the optical properties were similar. Doping rare‐earth metal ions into chitosan thin films did not seriously influence optical waveguiding. This paper reports, we believe, the first study of chitosan films for optical applications. The experimental results demonstrate that chitosan and its derivatives are potential candidates for optical materials. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.