Probing the influence of ZnFe2O4 doping on the optical and dielectric characteristics of PMMA/PANi.

Herein, a flexible Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)/ polyaniline (PANi) blend nanocomposite consisting of zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) nanoparticles was developed utilizing a casting solution and co-precipitation techniques. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique showed that all PMMA/PANi/ x wt % ZnFe₂O₄ polymers have a typical amorphous structure. The high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and XRD techniques revealed that the average crystallite size of ZnFe₂O₄ is 19 nm. UV diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry technique was applied to study PMMA/PANi optical characteristics variations up on doping with different amounts of ZnFe₂O₄. The direct and indirect E_g values for PMMA polymer are 4.94 and 4.79 eV, respectively. As PMMA loaded with PANi, the E_g values decreased to 4.89 and 4.68 eV, respectively. The direct and indirect E_g values attained their lowest values of 4.28 and 3.64 eV as the amount of ZnFe₂O₄ became 2.5 wt % in the PMMA/PANi matrix. Enrichments in the whole linear/nonlinear optical parameters are accomplished by PANi/ZnFe₂O₄ doping. The fluorescence (FL) data of PMMA/PANi/x wt% ZnFe₂O₄ were studied in detail. As the percentage of ZnFe₂O₄ in the polymer matrix increased to 0.5 wt% in the polymer matrix, the maximum energy density value was achieved. The ac conductivity reached its highest value (3.25 × 10¹⁰ s⁻¹ at 5.41 eV) as the amount of ZnFe₂O₄ became 2.5 wt % in the polymer matrix. Taking into account the findings of this study, the proposed: PMMA/PANi/x wt % ZnFe₂O₄ are considered great prospects for numerous applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]