Ionically conducting Er3+-doped DNA-based biomembranes for electrochromic devices

Biopolymer-based membranes have particular interest due to their biocompatibility, Biodegradability, easy extraction from natural resources and low cost. The incorporation of Er3+ ions into natural macromolecule hosts with the purpose of producing highly efficient emitting phosphors is of widespread interest in materials science, due to their important roles in display devices. Thus, biomembranes may be viewed as innovative materials for the area of optics. This paper describes studies of luminescent material DNA-based membranes doped with erbium triflate and demonstrates that their potential technological applications may be expanded to electrochromic devices. The sample that exhibits the highest ionic conductivity is DNA(10)Er, (1.17 x 10(-5) and 7.76 x 10(-4) S.cm(-1) at 30 and 100 degrees C, respectively). DSC, XRD and POM showed that the inclusion of the guest salt into DNA does not change significantly its amorphous nature. The overall redox stability was ca. 2.0 Vindicating that these materials have an acceptable stability window for applications in solid state electrochemical devices. The EPR analysis suggested that the Er3+ ions are distributed in various environments. A small ECD comprising a Er3+-doped DNA-based membrane was assembled and tested by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry. These electrochemical analyses revealed a pale blue color to transparent color change and a decrease of the charge density from -4.0 to -1.2 mC.cm(-2) during 4000 color/bleaching cycles. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.