Assembly of functional carboxymethyl cellulose/polyethylene oxide/anatase TiO2 nanocomposites and tuning the dielectric relaxation, optical, and photoluminescence performances

Abstract

Nanocomposite films consisting of carboxymethyl cellulose, polyethylene oxide (CMC/PEO), and anatase titanium dioxide (TO) were produced by the use of sol-gel and solution casting techniques. TiO2 nanocrystals were effectively incorporated into CMC/PEO polymers, as shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) analysis. The roughness growth is at high levels of TO nanocrystals (TO NCs), which means increasing active sites and defects in CMC/PEO. In differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms, the change in glass transition temperature (T g) values verifies that the polymer blend interacts with TO NCs. The increment proportions of TO NCs have a notable impact on the dielectric performances of the nanocomposites, as observed. The electrical properties of the CMC/PEO/TO nanocomposite undergo significant changes. The nanocomposite films exhibit a red alteration in the absorption edge as the concentration of TO NCs increases in the polymer blend. The decline in the energy gap is readily apparent as the weight percentage of TO NCs increases. The photoluminescence (PL) emission spectra indicate that the sites of the luminescence peak maximums show slight variation; peaks get wider, while their intensities decrease dramatically as the concentration of TO increases. These nanocomposite materials show potential for multifunctional applications including optoelectronics, antireflection coatings, photocatalysis, light emitting diodes, and solid polymer electrolytes.