Structure, thermal, optical and dielectric properties of SnO2 nanoparticles-filled HDPE polymer

Abstract

The present study deals with the structural, thermal, optical and electrical properties of a new combination of nanocomposites with high-density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer and SnO2 nanoparticle filler. The structural and morphological change with SnO2 concentration (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 20 wt%) were investigated with Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction, FTIR, FESEM and Raman spectroscopy. It was found from the XRD refinement that a monotonic decrease in lattice volume and lattice paraments of HDPE with filler addition up to 5 wt % and non-uniform change in cell parameters at filler concentrations above 5 wt% due to the agglomeration of nanoparticles. The FTIR and Raman spectra analysis also supported the uniform dispersion of nanoparticles in the polymer below 5 wt% filler concentrations. The DSC and TGA studies proved that the addition of low concentrations of SnO2 nanofillers could significantly enhance the degradation temperature. The accelerated thermal aging studies using UV spectroscopy confirmed the improved thermal stability of nanocomposites. The optical and dielectric studies demonstrate the effective tailoring of these properties by changing the volume fraction of SnO2 nanoparticles. UV spectroscopy studies showed the higher UV-light shielding performance of nanocomposites than the pure HDPE polymer. The dielectric behaviour follows the percolation phenomenon and the critical volume fraction is found to be 1%. The rate of increase of dielectric permittivity of nanocomposites is around 17% with 20 wt % filler loading. The polymer nanocomposites with improved and tunable thermal, optical and dielectric properties benefit insulation and UV shielding applications.