Optical properties of polyimide/silica nanocomposite

The optical properties of thin films of polyimide/silica nanocomposites prepared via sal-gel process were investigated as a function of nanosilica particles content. Absorption and reflectance spectra were collected by a spectrophotometer giving UV-radiation of wavelength range 200-800 nm. The optical data obtained were analyzed in terms of absorption formula for non-crystalline materials. The calculated values of the optical energy gap and the width of the energy tails of the localized states exhibited silica concentration dependence. The direct optical energy gap for neat polyimide is about 1.95 eV, and decreases to a value of 1.8 eV for nanocomposite of 25 wt% nanosilica content It was found that the calculated refractive index and dielectric constants of nanocomposites increase with silica particles content. The overall dependence of the optical and dielectrical constants on silica content in polyimide matrix is argued on the basis of the observed morphology and overlap of the localized energy sates of different color centers. The EMT model was fitted to the observed dielectric data. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.