Abstract
This study aims to prepare and examine the structure, thermal and dielectric properties of Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)/Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)/Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
nanocomposite films. The data were collected via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dielectric measurements. The XRD spectrum of the Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
ferrite sample showed a spinel crystal structure with an average size 15 nm. In the X-ray diffraction spectra of the PVDF-Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
polymer nanocomposites, β-phase diffraction peak appeared at 2
θ
= 0.2°. SEM images of all the nanocomposite films exhibited a homogeneous distribution of nanostructured Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
. FTIR spectra depicted the absorption bands for α, β and γ-phase of PVDF as well as the carbonyl group of PVP. From TGA analysis, the activation energy for thermal decomposition decreased from 285.73 to 248.97 kJ/mol.K. Besides, there is a decrease in both ΔH and ΔG values with an increase in the Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
concentration. The static dielectric constant (
ε
s
), the high-frequency dielectric constant (
ε
∞
) and the dielectric strength (Δε) for these nanocomposites were lower than the pure PVDF/PVP film. The DC conductivity values were 2.27 × 10
−14
, 1.63 × 10
−8
, 2.04 × 10
−10
and 1.61 × 10
−8
S/cm for 0.0, 1.0, 3.0 and 5.0 wt% of Co
0.6
Zn
0.4
Fe
2
O
4
.