Tuning of refractive index of poly(vinyl alcohol): Effect of embedding Cu and Ag nanoparticles

Abstract

In this article, we have reported the results of our measurements, related to the tuning of the refractive index of the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) polymer on embedding Cu and Ag nanoparticles at different concentrations. The size distribution and dispersion behaviour of embedded nanoparticles within PVA have been studied through transmission electron microscopy. A systematic increase in refractive index of PVA on increasing the concentration of embedded nanoparticles has been observed. These results have been tried to be explained using Bhar and Pinto model based on the Lorimar's theory for polymer composites. The values of refractive index of these nanocomposites have also been calculated using the Lorentz-Lorenz effective medium theory and found to be in close agreement with the experimental data. Nanoparticles embedded induced modifications in the structure of PVA have been revealed through FTIR spectroscopy.

Nano Gold Hybrid Polyvinyl Alcohol Films for Sensing of Cu2+ ions

“…The ‐C=C stretching vibration is observed at 1639 cm −1 . The FTIR peak at 1430 cm −1 , 1373 cm −1 and 1230 cm −1 are raised due to >CH 2 bending,>CH 2 wagging mode and C−H wagging respectively . In case of alanine, the band observed at 1728 cm −1 is due to >C=O stretching vibration.…”

Luminescent solar concentrators: boosted optical efficiency by polymer dielectric mirrors

“…37,55 PVA is indeed particularly appealing owing to the large amount of hydroxylic substituents, which can be used as grafting sites for the nanofiller, thus acting as spacers, drastically reducing the aggregation processes and eliminating the need of surfactants (see Methods Section). 56,57 We then use the new HyTiPVA and CA to spin-cast a series (H) of high performance DBRs with PBG easily tunable on the emission spectrum of the LSC fluorophore. The optical response of the new HyTiPVA material has been determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry and the real part (n) of the complex refractive index (̃=n+ik) is shown in Fig.…”

Nanorattles with tailored electric field enhancement

“…Generally, the plasmonic resonances were red-shifted with respect to their positions in aqueous solution owing to the change of refractive index of the matrix (i.e., from water (n = 1.33) to PVA (n = 1.47 as measured by spectroscopic ellipsometry, see ESI S5 † for more details)). 40 For polarization-dependent UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, we must define two excitation possibilities: electric field vector parallel and perpendicular to the stretching axis. Perpendicular excitation of the gold nanorods leads to a transversal mode at 510 nm (T1) only.…”