Effect of Ag-Nanoparticles Doped in Polyvinyl Alcohol on the Structural and Optical Properties of PVA Films

The effect of silver nanoparticles doped in PVA on the structural and optical properties of composite films is studied experimentally. Samples are PVA films of 0.14 mm thickness doped with different sizes and concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Structural properties are studied using X-ray diffraction and FTIR spectrum. Using the reflectance and transmittance of samples, the effect of doped nanoparticles and their concentration on optical parameters of PVA films include absorption coefficient, optical bandgap energy, complex refractive index, complex dielectric function, complex optical conductivity, and relaxation time is extracted and discussed. The dispersion of the refractive index of films in terms of the single oscillator Wemple-DiDomenico (WD) model is investigated and the dispersion parameters are calculated. Results show that by doping silver nanoparticles in PVA, number of Bragg's planes in the structure of polymer and its crystallinity are increased noticeably. Ag-O bonds are formed in the films and the bandgap energy of samples is decreased. Calculations based on WD model confirm that by doping nanoparticles, the anion strength of PVA as a dielectric medium is decreased.