Structural, optical, and aging studies of biocompatible PVC-PVP blend films

In the present communication, an attempt is made to prepare and study the structural, optical, and aging properties of polyvinylchloride (PVC)-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) blend films for their probable applications as biodegradable/biocompatible materials in biomedical and optoelectronics fields. The surface properties such as contact angles and surface free energies of films are measured to investigate the interaction of polymer films with water. These measurements reveal that on increasing the weight percentage concentration of PVP in PVC, the hydrophilicity of the films increases. The surface free energy was found to increase with increasing concentration of PVP in PVC, which indicates that these films tend to adsorb more moisture from the atmosphere and, thereby, will have a tendency to age faster. The Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra of blend films indicate a significant change in the intermolecular/intramolecular interactions taking place. The UV-visible (VIS) absorption spectra clearly reveal that blend films absorb UV radiations appreciably compared to visible light. The optical band gap, Urbach energy, and the carbonaceous cluster size were estimated from the absorption spectra.