Structural and surface treatment of irradiated polymer composites for optical applications

This work used the solution casting production method to prepare polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/copper oxide (CuO) composite films, which consists of the polymer (PVA) and the nanoparticles (CuO), for application in optoelectronic. The films were treated with argon beam of fluencies 3 × 10¹⁷, 6 × 10¹⁷, and 9 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm². The X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared, and ultraviolet–visible techniques were employed to investigate, respectively, the structural, chemical changes, and optical properties of the pure and treated films. The crystallite size is reduced from 16.4 nm for the PVA/CuO to 11 nm for the irradiated composite by fluence of 9 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm². In addition, the band gap reduced from 3.75 eV for PVA/CuO to 3.70, 3.40, and 3.10 eV, respectively, with increasing ion beam fluencies to 3 × 10¹⁷, 6 × 10¹⁷, and 9 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm². The optical parameters of both the untreated and bombarded samples were determined. The single oscillator energy E_o enhanced from 3.3 eV for PVA/CuO to 3.90 eV for the irradiated 6 × 10¹⁷ ions/cm². The outcome of this study is the production of irradiated PVA/CuO films with novel optical characteristics, which can be applied in optoelectronic devices.