Optical and dielectric behaviors of polyvinyl chloride incorporated with MgFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf>/MWCNTs

Abstract

Casting and wet chemical methods have been used to produce polyvinyl chloride/magnesium ferrite/multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PVC-MgFe2O4-MWCNTs) polymer nanocomposites. Full characterization was carried out applying x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) techniques. MWCNTs disclosed high crystalline nature and Rietveld refinement revealed nanostructure for MgFe2O4 with average size 16 nm. Optical properties were inferred by diffused reflectance spectrophotometry, fluorescence (FL), and chromaticity (CIE). Upon loading PVC with MgFe2O4/MWCNT, both direct and indirect bandgaps were reduced, the absorbance was enhanced greatly, while transmittance and reflectance were reduced. The refractive index was reduced except for PVC/MgFe2O4 where it enhanced for λ > 450 nm and increased with incident photon energy. The optical conductivity is highly enhanced for the whole wavelength range. According to FL and CIE results, the FL peak intensity of pure PVC polymer decreased upon loading MgFe2O4 and quenched further upon adding MWCNTs to the polymer. PVC emitted in the blue range while doped PVC emitted in blue-violet regions. The effect of MgFe2O4 and/or MWCNTs on the ac conductivity, electrical dielectric constant and electric modulus of PVC was investigated at room temperature. Based on the characterization data, the synthesized polymer nanocomposites have potential applications in several different optoelectronic settings.