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Terahertz complex conductivity of nanofibrillar cellulose-PEDOT:PSS composite films

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Abstract

We investigate the terahertz transmission through flexible composite films that contain nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) and different blending percentages of the conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). The real part of terahertz complex conductivity is found to decrease with decreasing frequency for each NFC composite film and to approach a finite positive value dependent on the PEDOT:PSS blending percentage in the limit of zero frequency. Both the real and imaginary parts of complex conductivity spectra can be fitted simultaneously with an extended Drude model that describes a partially localized nature of carriers. Our spectral analysis indicates that carriers in the NFC composite become denser and also less localized as the PEDOT:PSS blending percentage is increased.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by a Nagaoka University of Technology Presidential Research Grant. J. J. S. wishes to thank the UEF Faculty of Science and Forestry (Grant No. 579/2017) for the financial support. Åbo Akademi University (Laboratory of Paper Coating and Converting) and South China University of Technology (State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering) are acknowledged for laboratory access during the sample preparation and for producing NFC suspensions, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical, Electronics and Information Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan

    Takeya Unuma, Omou Kobayashi & Iffah F. A. Hamdany

  2. High Performance Fiber Products, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd, 02044, Espoo, Finland

    Vinay Kumar

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101, Joensuu, Finland

    Jarkko J. Saarinen

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  1. Takeya Unuma
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  2. Omou Kobayashi
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  3. Iffah F. A. Hamdany
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  5. Jarkko J. Saarinen
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Correspondence to Takeya Unuma.

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Unuma, T., Kobayashi, O., Hamdany, I.F.A. et al. Terahertz complex conductivity of nanofibrillar cellulose-PEDOT:PSS composite films. Cellulose 26, 3247–3253 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-019-02276-5

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