Structural and optical characterization of pure and SnZrO3 doped PS based polymer nanocomposite

Abstract This report presents a straightforward, an efficient and a promising methodology for the preparation of nanocomposite polymer (NCP) systems composed of polystyrene (PS) as the host polymer with addition of SnZrO 3 filler. For structural study and optical properties determination of the prepared samples; x-ray diffraction (XRD), and ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy was performed, respectively. From XRD pattern several new peaks of the composites appearance as an evidence of strong interaction between the polymer matrix and the filler. The crystalline size of nan-particles were estimated using Debye–Scherrer’s equation. The fundamental optical parameters, for instance refractive index ( n ), optical band gap energy ( E g ), optical dielectric loss ( ε i ), and optical dielectric constant ( ε r ) have been determined in which the quantity of SnZrO 3 is effective. Tauc’s equation has been used in the specifying the direct and indirect band gap energy. The absorption edge (E a ) shifting from4.42 to 3.74 eV is associated to the charge-transfer complexes creation within the composite films. There is an increasing in the n from 1.2 to 2.54 for pure PS upon addition of 12 wt.% doped that indicates the existence of few interaction between photons and electrons. The optical band gap and transition type are studied in detail. The exponent value ( r ) has been identified from Tauc’s equation using the ε i against photon energy to measure optical band gap energy and specify the electronic transition types. This doping of filler has considerably increased the ε r from (1.5–6.4) for pure PS sample and doped SnZrO 3 nanoparticles.