Synthesis of Polymer Nanocomposites Based on [Methyl Cellulose](1−x):(CuS)x (0.02 M ≤ x ≤ 0.08 M) with Desired Optical Band Gaps

• Main Authors: Shujahadeen B. Aziz, Mariwan A. Rasheed, Hameed M. Ahmed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-05-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: methyl cellulose (MC) nanocomposite; SPR band; bandgap study; optical dielectric function; XRD; FTIR study
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/9/6/194

In this paper, the sample preparation of polymer nanocomposites based on methyl cellulose (MC) with small optical bandgaps has been discussed. Copper monosulfide (CuS) nanoparticles have been synthesized from the sodium sulphide (Na2S) and copper chloride (CuCl2) salts. Distinguishable localized surface resonance plasmon (LSRP) absorption peaks for CuS nanoparticles within the 680–1090 nm scanned wavelength range were observed for the samples. An absorption edge (Ed) was found to be widely shifted to a lower photon energy region. A linear relationship between the refractive index of the samples and the CuS fraction was utilized to describe the distribution of the particle. The optical bandgap of MC was reduced from 6.2 to 2.3 eV upon the incorporation of 0.08 M of CuS nanoparticles. The optical dielectric loss, as an alternative method, was used successfully to estimate the optical bandgap. Moreover, the electronic transition type was identified by using Tauc’s extrapolation method. The plots of the optical dielectric constant and energy bandgap as a function of the CuS concentration were utilized to examine the validity of the Penn model. For the nanocomposite samples, the Urbach energy was found to be increased, which can be evidence for a large possible number of bands-to-tail and tail-to-tail transitions. However, from the X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, it was also found that the synthesized CuS nanoparticles disrupted the crystallinity phase of the MC polymer. Finally, fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the samples was also performed. Significant decreases of transmittance intensity as well as band shifting in the FTIR spectra were observed for the doped samples.