Improving the optical characteristics of PVA/PVP/PEG blend via loading with nano SnS<inf>2</inf>/Y

Abstract

70%PVA/20%PVP/10%PEG/ x wt%SnS2/Y (x wt%=1, 3, 5, 10) blended polymers were produced. The structural and microstructural parameters characteristics of SnS2/Y nanofiller were determined by applying Rietveld analysis for X-ray diffraction (XRD) data. The distribution of the nanofiller over the blended polymers matrix was examined using XRD and scanning electron microscope (SEM) techniques. The thermal stability of all blends was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis technique. The effect of loading different amounts of SnS2/Y on the absorbance, absorption edge, reflectance, extinction coefficient, and dielectric and optical conductivity characteristics of the blended polymer was discussed using UV–vis diffused reflectance data. The direct and indirect optical band gaps of pristine blend (5.2 and 5.02) eV are reduced by increasing SnS2/Y content, reaching (4.32 and 3.18) eV at 10 wt% loading. The refractive index displayed normal and/or anomalous dispersion depending on the amount of nanofiller and the wavelength range. At 500 nm, the n value raised from 1.439 for pure blend to 1.876 for the blend 10 wt% nano SnS2/Y. The effect of dopant on the fluorescence intensity and emitted colors from the different blends was explored using fluorescence technique. The high values of nonlinear optical parameters opened the opportunity to utilize the loaded blend especially with 10 wt% nanofiller in different nonlinear optical and photonic applications.