The modification of optical behavior of polystyrene microfibers by the incorporation of Gd doped ZnO nanoparticles

Abstract The paper reports the synthesis of Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nano particles in pure and Gadolinium (Gd) doped forms via hydrothermal method. The annealing temperatures for the samples were fixed at 600 °C and 800 °C. The ZnO nano particles in their pure and Gd doped forms were incorporated in the Polystyrene matrix and drawn to microfibers by the method of electrospinning (ES). The structural studies were carried out using Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), x-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The optical absorption and emission properties were studied using UV-Visible Absorption spectroscopy and Fluorescence Spectroscopy. The SEM-EDS confirmed the presence of Gd in ZnO. In the ZnO structures more crystallinity was observed for samples annealed at 800 °C. The particle size of the prepared nano particles were found to vary from 77 nm to 194 nm. The optical absorption behavior of the samples was explained using Brus effective mass model. The fluorescence emission spectrum of the nano particle samples were analyzed and found that the emission properties depend on their particle size. The XRD, UV-Visible and Fluorescence analysis of fibers confirmed the presence of ZnO and Gd doped ZnO nano particles in the polystyrene fibers. The distinct optical absorption and emission behavior of the microfibers were greatly affected due to the presence of nano particles in the polymer matrix.