Influence of ?-irradiation on the structural and optical properties of PVA/rGO films reinforced with rGO for nuclear shielding applications.

The polyvinyl alcohol films reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (PVA/rGO) have been synthesized by the film casting method. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to measure the spectra for PVA/ rGO films before and after being exposed to various dosages of ?-irradiation. XRD X-ray diffraction has been used to evaluate the structure of PVA/rGO before and after ?-ray irradiation and showed the potential for some H-bonding to be broken along with the splitting of the major chain. When compared to the non-irradiated sample, the FT-IR spectra of the irradiated samples show clear variations in peak locations and intensities. The absorbance spectral behavior of PVA/rGO film before and after irradiation with ?-rays at different dosages demonstrates a sharp and intense absorption spectrum centered at 205 nm and abroad, as well as a weak absorption spectrum centered at 277 nm. The absorbance spectrum fitting (ASF), the first derivation of the absorption spectrum fitting (DASF), and Tauc's methods were studied to investigate the optical energy gap for the PVA/rGO films before and after ?-irradiation with varied gamma doses. Also, the linear refractive index (n) for ?-irradiated PVA/rGO films was estimated and shows an increase in the values as the ?-doses increased. Such results show the great potential of the PVA/rGO polymer film in photovoltaic, polymer science applications, and radiation shielding.

Automated summary

Polyvinyl alcohol films reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (PVA/rGO) were synthesized by the film casting method. The study found that the structure and spectra of PVA/rGO films changed significantly after γ-ray irradiation. The absorbance spectra of PVA/rGO films showed distinct behaviors at different γ-doses, and the linear refractive index (n) increased with the γ-doses.