Linear and nonlinear optical investigations of polyvinyl chloride modified La2O3 nanocomposite films

In the present work, we report the effect and improvement of PVC polymer blend nanocomposites performance with addition of lanthanum oxide (La2O3) nanofiller. The structural properties of the samples were studied using different characterization techniques such as XRD, FTIR, Ramman and SEM. The X-ray diffraction peaks of La2O3 are with agreement with the pure hexagonal phase. The La2O3 sample was found to have crystallites size with an average about 15 nm. XRD, FTIR and SEM analysis confirmed the interaction of PVC/La2O3 polymer nanocomposites. The obtained band gaps of PVC/La2O3 polymer nanocomposites decreased (5.72 - 5.0 eV) upon increasing the nanofiller content. The obtained values of single oscillator energy (E0) showed a decrease (5.88 - 3.28 eV) while dispersion energy (Ed) increases (5.64 - 7.20 eV) upon increasing the concentration of La2O3. The estimated values of static refractive index (n0) showed an increase (1.40 - 1.79) upon increasing the percentage of La2O3. Moreover, the nonlinear refractive index (n2) value was changed from 1.56 10-13 to 33.56 x 10-13 esu. Finally, the addition of La2O3 nanofillers increase the polarizability of the polymer molecules and hence the nonlinear refractive index.