Steps Toward the Band Gap Identification in Polystyrene Based Solid Polymer Nanocomposites Integrated with Tin Titanate Nanoparticles

Ahang M Hussein; Elham M A Dannoun; Shujahadeen B Aziz; Mohamad A Brza; Rebar T Abdulwahid; Sarkawt A Hussen; Sarkawt Rostam; Dalia M T Mustafa; Dana S Muhammad

doi:10.3390/polym12102320

Steps Toward the Band Gap Identification in Polystyrene Based Solid Polymer Nanocomposites Integrated with Tin Titanate Nanoparticles

Polymers (Basel). 2020 Oct 10;12(10):2320. doi: 10.3390/polym12102320.

Authors

Ahang M Hussein¹, Elham M A Dannoun², Shujahadeen B Aziz^{1

3}, Mohamad A Brza⁴, Rebar T Abdulwahid⁵, Sarkawt A Hussen¹, Sarkawt Rostam⁶, Dalia M T Mustafa⁶, Dana S Muhammad⁵

Affiliations

¹ Hameed Majid Advanced Polymeric Materials Research Lab., Department of Physics, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
² Associate Director of General Science Department, Woman Campus, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Civil engineering, College of Engineering, Komar University of Science and Technology, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
⁴ Department of Manufacturing and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, International Islamic University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur 50728, Malaysia.
⁵ Department of Physics, College of Education, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering/Production, College of Engineering, Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.

Abstract

In the current study, the film fabrication of polystyrene (PS) based polymer nanocomposites (NCs) with tuned refractive index and absorption edge was carried out using the solution cast method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) light characterization techniques were performed. The structural and optical properties of the prepared films were specified. The hump of PS decreased significantly when SnTiO₃ nanoparticles (NPs) were introduced. Sharp and high intense peaks of SnTiO₃ NPs at a high filler ratio were observed. The crystalline size was determined for SnTiO₃ NPs from the sharp crystalline peaks using Debye-Scherrer's equation and was found to be 25.179 nm, which is close enough to that described by the supplier. Several optical parameters, such as absorption coefficient (α), refractive index (n), and optical dielectric properties, were investigated. The absorption spectra were tuned with increasing SnTiO₃NPs. Upon the addition of the NPs to the PS host polymer, the absorption edge undergoes shifting to lesser photon energy sides. The optical dielectric constant (ε') was correlated to the refractive index. The study of the optical band gap was conducted in detail using both Tauc's model and the optical dielectric loss (ε″) parameter. The results showed that the ε″ parameter is noteworthy to be measured in the optical band gap study of materials.

Keywords: SnTiO3 nanoparticle; UV-Vis investigation; XRD investigation; band gap examination; optical properties; polystyrene.