Optical linearity and nonlinearity, structural morphology of TiO2-doped PMMA/FTO polymeric nanocomposite films: Laser power attenuation
Graphical abstract
Introduction
The investigating study of the composites made of polymeric materials, as the hot matrix and appropriate metal salts gain enormous efforts in corresponding to the healthy development in potential devices of photoelectrochemical and high energy electrochemical and the fabrication simplicity for thin films in required dimensions. Among the different polymers as host matrix, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) materials have been largely applied in optoelectronic applications taking advantage of its effective electrical and optical behaviors [1]. PMMA is a strong thermoplastic material and potentially applied in numerous technological and industrial fields for widespread applications due to the unique outstanding optical properties, such as clarity and transparency, electrical and chemical properties, thermal stability, weather resistance, safety, and model ability [2]. Inorganic fillers doped in PMMA matrix doped to enrich its structure morphology and electrical optical and properties to enhance optoelectronic applications' performance.
Lately, the combination of polymeric materials with nanoparticles (NPS) has attracted extensive focus in the material science field because of the potential boosting properties, reduction in cost, efficiency in synthesizing, greater stability, and high flexibility to manufacture. The existence of fillers inorganic oxide nanoparticles in the polymer matrix could adjust the polymers' optical, thermo-mechanical, magnetic, and electrical behaviors [3]. Among those fillers, titanium dioxide TiO2 is potentially one of the furthermost capable materials because of its unique physical, optical, electrical, and thermal properties. Importantly, the TiO2 research has been attracted to distinct attention, which is applying TiO2 nano-materials in various potential practical fields of photocatalysis, photovoltaics sensors, and photo-/electro-chromic applications [4]. TiO2 materials are nontoxic, low in cost, and having broad optical bandgap and TiO2 are plentifully available in nature. The nanocomposites of TiO2 and PMMA are potential candidates and could play major roles in various applications, such as aerospace, optoelectronics device, and biological labels [5].
Many reported studies are investigating the thermal, optical, and electrical properties of inorganic doped PMMA polymers. In their research, El-Zaher et al. studied the TiO2 effects on the structure and thermal properties of PMMA polymeric materials for medical technological applications [6]. Also, Convertino et al. [7] investigated how the surface chemistry and the shape of TiO2 nanocrystals affect PMMA/TiO2 materials' absorption capacity. The relation between the doping concentrations and the structural morphology and thermal characteristics of PMMA–TiO2 nanostructured materials was reported by Saraswat co-workers [8]. To the best of the current knowledge, there was not that much intensive study has been investigated the TiO2 NP's effects on the optical and structural properties of the PMMA polymers.
The present research proposed to enhance the structural, electrical, optical, and dielectric performance of TiO2-doped PMMA/FTO polymeric nanocomposites synthesized through spin coating techniques for optoelectronic applications. In this current study, the PMMA matrix was prepared with nano-TiO2 powder at various concentrations (0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50 wt%). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) methods were employed to characterize the structural morphology of TiO2/PMMA nanocomposite films. Besides, UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry was used to examine the optical properties of the TiO2/PMMA/FTO nanostructured films, and the optical energy bandgaps were estimated as the TiO2 doping ratios increased. All possible analysis and parameters were deduced and interpreted in our work in full details. It is projected that the TiO2-doped PMMA/FTO polymeric nanocomposites will be applied in broadband technological applications.
Section snippets
Deposition of TiO2-doped PMMA/FTO polymeric nanocomposites films
In this present study, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) powder of chemical formula [CH2C(CH3)(CO2CH3)-]nwas utilized as a host matrix, was supplied from BDH England. Moreover, the nano-powder of titanium oxide (from Sigma-Aldrich, China) was used as a filler, a combination of anatase and rutile nanoparticles, less than 100 nm size 99.5 % of trace metals. The high purity of chloroform was considered a common solvent for both PMMA and TiO2 nanoparticles. First, 20 g of PMMA was dissolved in 200 ml
X-ray Diffraction
XRD analysis was used to prove the crystalline constructions of TiO2/PMMA/FTO nanocomposites, where the mean values of the grain size (nm), the dislocation density, and the lattice strain were determined for all the synthesized pure PMMA and as well as for the nanocomposites of PMMA and TiO2 nanoparticles at different doping ratios ranging from 0.1 to 50 wt%, as illustrated in Table. 2. In this study, the crystalline size (D) of the TiO2/PMMA nanocomposites was calculated using the Scherrer
Conclusion
Commercially, TiO2 nanoparticles are naturally available, technologically critical, inexpensive materials that are excellent candidates for environmental, energy, health, and numerous applications, which is reported in this proposed work. In this current study, TiO2/PMMA/FTO nanocomposites have been prepared by a spin coater technique, which is a very good practice to gain a uniform thin film with a low cost, short time, and high efficiency. The structural, morphological, and linear and
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors report no declarations of interest.
Acknowledgment
The authors express their appreciation to “The Research Center for Advanced Materials Science (RCAMS)” at King Khalid University for funding this work under the grant number RCAMS/KKU/016-20. The authors express their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work through research groups program under grant number R.G.P.2/65/40.
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