Fabrication, surface characterization and effect of oxygen irradiation on polymeric nanocomposite films

This study addressed the preparation of nanocomposites consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) for utilization in optoelectronics technologies. PVA/10%TiO 2 nanocomposite samples with a mean thickness of 0.1[Formula: see text]mm were created using the solution casting method. The PVA/TiO 2 films are irradiated with oxygen fluences of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ions/cm 2 . The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR methodologies were employed to investigate the impact of ion bombardment on the structural characteristics and functional groups of PVA/TiO 2 substrates. Diffraction peaks are 20.1° for PVA and 25.4° for TiO 2 , indicating the successful PVA/TiO 2 nanocomposite construction. The absorbance (A) of unirradiated and irradiated samples was measured using UV–Vis spectroscopy within a wavelength range of 200–1100[Formula: see text]nm. Band gaps ([Formula: see text]) were calculated using Tauc’s formula for PVA/TiO 2 films, exhibiting a decrease from 4.56[Formula: see text]eV for unirradiated PVA/TiO 2 film to 4.16, 3.95 and 3.88[Formula: see text]eV at ion fluences of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ions/cm 2 , respectively. Furthermore, the Ubrach tail has a rise of 1.23[Formula: see text]eV for unirradiated PVA/TiO 2 to 1.28[Formula: see text]eV, 1.4[Formula: see text]eV and 1.77[Formula: see text]eV for irradiated films with ion fluences of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] ions/cm 2 , respectively. Additionally, following ion irradiation, the PVA/TiO 2 absorption edge [Formula: see text], which was 3.56[Formula: see text]eV, decreased to 3.48, 3.37 and 3.23[Formula: see text]eV, with increasing ion beam fluences. This study demonstrated that the optical behaviors of the PVA/TiO 2 films were altered under bombardment, suggesting their potential applicability in optical devices.