Abstract
In the present paper, different concentrations of chromium oxide (Cr
2
O
3
) nanoparticles (≤ 0.6 wt%) were incorporated within PEO/CMC polymer blend to produce nanocomposite films using the casting technique. X-ray diffraction was performed on PEO/CMC-Cr
2
O
3
nanocomposites. The main X-ray peaks of Cr
2
O
3
were observed and defined as cubic structure and orthorhombic shape. The average particle size was calculated by Scherer’s equation in the range between 50 and 60 nm. A decrease of some IR bands after the addition of Cr
2
O
3
nanoparticles was found, which was attributed to the interactions between PEO/CMC and Cr
2
O
3
. The effect of Cr
2
O
3
nanoparticles on optical properties such as absorbance and optical energy gap (E
g
) was characterized using UV–Vis spectroscopy. The E
g
was reduced after the addition of Cr
2
O
3
nanoparticles. The AC conductivity (σ
ac
), dielectric constant (ε′), dielectric loss (
ε
′
′
) and the dielectric modulus (
M
′
and
M
′
′
) were calculated at the frequency range of 0.1 Hz -7 GHz. The increase in direct conductivity (σdc) indicates the resulting free charge density or charge mobility. The calculated values of both ε′ and
ε
′
′
were decreased with increasing the frequency. The addition of Cr
2
O
3
nanoparticles causes the formation of a charge-transfer complex. The Cole–Cole plot between (
M
′
and
M
′
′
) shows a semi-circular shape which discuses according to a non‐Debye method.