Abstract
The effect of metal (M: Fe, Pb and Mn) oxides type on the optical, electrical and mechanical performance of PVA/reduced graphene oxide (PVA/rGO) blend has been explored. Plain PVA and 2.0 wt% of metal oxides polymeric composites (PCs) were equipped using the solution casting procedure. The structure variation due to metal oxides incorporation was examined by the FT-IR spectroscopy. The optical properties of the samples were obtained based on the UV-Vis-NIR measurements. The optical bandgap decreases from 5.41 eV (plain PVA) to 5.36 eV (plain PVA/rGO), 5.23 eV (Fe2O3 PC), 5.27 eV (Pb3O4 PC) and 5.22 eV (MnO2 PC). The dc-electrical conductivity of the PVA/rGO blend is strongly enhanced via metal oxides incorporation. The activation energy of the host matrix decreases from 0.66 eV (plain PVA) to 0.18 eV (plain PVA/rGO), 0.05 eV (Fe2O3 PC), 0.20 eV (Pb3O4 PC) and 0.43 eV (MnO2 PC). The dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) was used to investigate the effect of metal oxides incorporation on the mechanical properties of the host blend. The glass transition temperature (T-g) value increases from 59.45 degrees C (plain PVA) to 61.56 degrees C (plain PVA/rGO) and 64.68 degrees C (Pb3O4 PC). While it decreases to 55.04 degrees C (Fe2O3 PC) and 58.37 degrees C (MnO2 PC). These unique results exhibit that the optical, electrical and mechanical properties of polymeric blends could be controlled via metal oxides incorporation for applications in flexible optoelectronic devices.