Synthesis and optical properties of poly (vinyl acetate)/bismuth oxide nanorods

Poly (vinyl acetate) (PVAc) loaded bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) nanorods were successfully prepared at ambient pressure. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the final product. It was found that Bi2O3 nanorods were formed and the diameter of the rods was confined to about 8 nm. The diameter and length of formed rods were found to increase by increasing the bismuth oxide concentration in the PVAc matrix. The optical properties of the nanocomposite films were characterized from the analysis of the experimentally recorded transmittance and reflectance data in the spectral wavelength range of 300-800 nm. The values of some important parameters of the studied films are determined such as refractive index (n), extinction coefficient (k), optical absorption coefficient (alpha), and band energy gap (E-g). According to the analysis of dispersion curves, it has been found that the dispersion data obeyed the single oscillator of the Wemple-DiDomenico model, from which the dispersion parameters and high-frequency dielectric constant were determined. In such work, from the transmission spectra, the dielectric constant (epsilon(infinity)) and the third-order optical nonlinear susceptibility chi((3)) were determined. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.