Characteristics of PEO Incorporated with CaTiO3 Nanoparticles: Structural and Optical Properties

Shujahadeen B Aziz; Muaffaq M Nofal; Mohamad A Brza; Sarkawt A Hussein; Khaled H Mahmoud; Zeinhom M El-Bahy; Elham M A Dannoun; Wrya O Kareem; Ahang M Hussein

doi:10.3390/polym13203484

Characteristics of PEO Incorporated with CaTiO₃ Nanoparticles: Structural and Optical Properties

Polymers (Basel). 2021 Oct 11;13(20):3484. doi: 10.3390/polym13203484.

Authors

Shujahadeen B Aziz^{1

2}, Muaffaq M Nofal³, Mohamad A Brza¹, Sarkawt A Hussein¹, Khaled H Mahmoud⁴, Zeinhom M El-Bahy⁵, Elham M A Dannoun⁶, Wrya O Kareem⁷, Ahang M Hussein¹

Affiliations

¹ Hameed Majid Advanced Polymeric Materials Research Lab, Physics Department, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Qlyasan Street, Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
² Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Komar University of Science and Technology, Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.
³ Department of Mathematics and General Sciences, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Physics, College of Khurma University College, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Nasr City, Cairo 11884, Egypt.
⁶ Associate Director of General Science Department, Woman Campus, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box 66833, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, University of Sulaimani, Qlyasan Street, Kurdistan Regional Government, Sulaimani 46001, Iraq.

Abstract

In this research, direct band gap polymer composites with amorphous phase, which are imperative for optoelectronic devices applications were synthesized. The solution cast technique was used to produce polyethylene oxide (PEO)/calcium titanate (CaTiO₃) nanocomposite (NC) films. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirms the growth of amorphous nature within PEO with CaTiO₃ addition. The optical band gaps of pure PEO and PEO/CaTiO₃ NC films were calculated using analysis of ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectra. The change in absorption edge toward lower photon energy is evidence of polymer modification. The dispersion behavior of the refractive index of PEO was manipulated to a higher wavelength upon doping with CaTiO₃. Upon adding CaTiO₃ to the pure PEO polymer, the dielectric constant and refractive index were considerably modified. The band gap shifts from 4.90 eV to 4.19 eV for the PEO incorporated with an optimum portion of 8 wt. % of CaTiO₃. The types of the electronic transition in composite samples were specified, based on the Taucs model and the optical dielectric loss. The alteration of UV/Vis absorption spectra of the NC film was considered a suitable candidate to be applied in nanotechnology-based devices. The spherulites ascribed to the crystalline phase were distinguished through the optical microscopy (OM) study.

Keywords: PEO; XRD test; band gap study; optical properties; polymer nanocomposites; refractive index.