Synthesis and characterization of Fe2O3 nanoparticles incorporated PVA nanocompositefilms

Abstract

Polyvinyl alcohol–iron oxide nanocomposite (PVA-Fe2O3 NC) films have been formed when iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe2O3 NPs) are incorporated into a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) base matrix. In this study, for the preparation of a series of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, different weight percentages (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 wt. %) of Fe2O3 NPs have been added into the PVA solution using the solution cast method. The morphological and spectroscopic properties of the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry (UV-Vis) spectroscopy techniques. XRD studies reveal that the original structure of the Fe2O3 NPs is preserved in the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, and the crystallinity of the PVA-Fe2O3NC films has been increased. The SEM images confirm that the Fe2O3 NPs have been homogeneously distributed in 3-dimension with dots and rod-like structures. The UV-visible investigations have been carried out for the series of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, which result in a significant change in opto-electronic properties. With an increasing weight percentage of Fe2O3 NPs in the PVA-Fe2O3 NC films, the direct bandgap decreased from 5.39 eV to 5.01 eV, the indirect bandgap decreased from 4.73 eV to 3.27 eV, the Urbach energy increased from 0.428 eV to 0.538 eV, the linear refractive index increased from 1.63 to 5.86, and the extinction coefficient increased from 1.86 X 10-6 to 1.74 X 10-5. These results have shown that the spectroscopic properties of PVA-Fe2O3 NC films are modified considerably with the small addition of Fe2O3 NPs in the PVA matrix, which are useful for optoelectronic applications.