Optical limiting properties of in situ reduced graphene oxide/polymer nanocomposites

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide/polymer nanocomposites are prepared by the in situ reduction of graphene oxide in the polymer matrix. Graphene oxide is dispersed in an aqueous solution of poly(vinyl alcohol) and is chemically reduced within the polymer matrix followed by solution casting to form the composite films. The nonlinear absorption characteristics and the optical limiting behaviour of the composite films are studied using z-scan technique. The composites exhibit excellent optical limiting behaviour along with improved thermal characteristics. The nonlinear absorption characteristics and the optical limiting properties are found to increase with increasing concentration of reduced graphene oxide in the polymer matrix. This clearly provides an opportunity to tune the optical limiting behaviour to attain a desired limiting threshold intensity by adjusting the concentration of the filler and hence these composites can find practical applications in many devices as potential optical limiters.