A Systematic Review on the Dielectric Response of Polyvinyl alcohol - Zinc Oxide Nanocomposites Films

Abstract This review article mainly discusses about the dielectric properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-zinc oxide (ZnO) nanocomposites films. Nanostructured ZnO is a semiconducting functional material. It has received a significant amount of attention due to its potential applications in various areas like antimicrobial, optoelectronic and sensor devices. Polyvinyl alcohol on the other hand offers an insulting polymer matrix with good dielectric breakdown strength and film forming properties. Incorporating semiconducting ZnO nanostructures into the insulating PVA matrix is of contemporary interest due to the intriguing dielectric response of the resulting nanocomposite films. Literature reports on the variations of several electrical parameters such as real and imaginary part of the complex permittivity, AC conductivity and complex impedance have been analysed here systematically. The effect of different ZnO nanostructure loading weight percentages, measurement temperature and frequency variations have been correlated with the corresponding changes in the dielectric constant, loss tangent values, dc conductivity contribution regime, hopping frequency, relaxation time and prevailing ac conduction mechanism of the nanocomposite films. Thus, this systematic review aims to provide a roadmap for the scientific community to optimize different parameters and enhance the functional properties of the PVA-ZnO nanocomposite films.