Characterization and optical studies of flexible methylcellulose/titanium dioxide nanomaterials.
Abstract
In this work, flexible MC/TiO2 polymer composites were successfully manufactured using
the solution casting method to enhance their implementations in optical applications. The
composite consisting of methylcellulose (MC) with different concentrations of titanium
dioxide (TiO2) of 3%, 6%, and 9%. The successful fabrication of MC/TiO2 films were
confirmed through XRD characterization. The addition of TiO2 enhances the refractive
indices (n0), it increased from 1.014 for MC respectively to 1.025,1.032 and 1.045 for
MC/3%TiO2, MC/6%TiO2 and MC/9%TiO2. The MC exhibited an oscillation energy of
6.86 eV, changed respectively to 5.25 eV, 4.96 eV, and 4.59 eV. Furthermore, the
dispersion energy values were observed to be 0.18 eV for MC, respectively changed to
0.23 eV, 0.26 eV, and 0.35 eV, for MC/3%TiO2, MC/6%TiO2 and MC/9%TiO2. The data
clearly indicates the introduction of TiO2 into the MC polymer results in a modification of
its optical characteristics, to be applicable in different fields of optoelectronics.