“Extraction and studies of optoelectrical parameters in LaFeO3-polyvinyl alcohol composite films for optoelectronic application”

Abstract

Ceramic LaFeO3 (LFO) nanoparticles were synthesized using the solid state reaction method. To grow and study the various optoelectrical parameters of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and LFO-PVA nanocomposite films (wt%), the solution casting technique were used. To study optical properties, these films were subjected to Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy. From the UV–visible spectra, the high reflectance and low transmittance nature of the sample was observed. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of these films were obtained from reflectance and transmittance data. The optical results reveal that increasing LFO doping concentration decreases the energy band gap (Eg) values from 5.20 to 2.74 eV, while Urbach energy (Eu) increases from 0.423 eV to 4.871 eV. With doping, the value of single oscillator energy (Eo) decreases from 6.212 eV to 3.658 eV, while dispersion energy (Ed) increases from 8.481 eV to 158.92 eV. With LFO doping concentration, optical constants and parameters such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, dielectric constants and electron energy loss function were determined from transmittance and reflectance data. The refractive index (n) and extinction coefficient (k) are calculated to be in the ranges from 1.4 to 12 and 5.85 × 10−5 ‒ 26 × 10−3, respectively. The real (ε1) and imaginary (ε2) dielectric constants vary from 2 to 138.8 and 3.01 × 10−4 ‒ 3.25 × 10−2, respectively. The volume and surface energy loss functions were determined to be 1.96 × 10−4 ‒ 1.03 × 10−6 and 1.34 × 10−4 ‒ 3.14 × 10−7, respectively. The optical density and skin depth (δ) shows variation with filler concentration (wt%). The maximum optical conductivity σ1(ω) and σ2(ω) for 48% (wt%) sample were found to be 1.5 × 105 and 1.08 × 109 S−1 at 220 nm. The wavelength dependent real and imaginary parts of the optical dielectric functions and the WDD model were used to calculate the fundamental parameters, including Nopt/m*, ε∞, τ, μopt, ωp, ωd, ρopt, and n0. The value of Nopt/m* was increased from 8.61 × 1052 m3Kg−1 to 5.60 × 1054 m3Kg−1. The reflection loss (RL) and average molar refraction (Rm) were found to increase with doping concentration. For these samples, the optical non linear susceptibility (χ(3)) was determined to be in the range from 3.77 × 10−15 to 2.94 × 10−7. The value of electronic polarizability αp decreases from 2.57 × 10−23 to 7.33 × 10−24 for PVA, while for the composite films the value of αp increases from 7.81 × 10−25 to 3.59 × 10−24 in the wavelength range 200–1000 nm. Also, these calculated parameters shows a decreasing trend with LFO doping contents. It was further observed that the investigated parameters exhibit a strong dependence on the LFO doping content. Based on these optoelectronic properties of this material, it could be used for possible optoelectronic applications.