The spectral properties and dispersion parameters of electrospun nanofibers Poly(vinyl alcohol/ Poly(acrylamide)

Abstract

Electrospun nanofibers based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyacrylamide (PAAm), and a PVA-PAAm blend (50/50 wt.%) were effectively made a room temperature(RT) and a voltage of (12kV). The products were studied using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR) and Ultraviolet-visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. The result of FESEM analysis showed that the polymer PVA, PAAm, and blend samples produced a random distribution of fine fibres at an average diameter of (214.12, 317.1, 157.65) nm with a smooth surface. In addition, the FESEM images demonstrate the fibres' suitability for use in gas sensing applications due to their branching fibres and porosity surface. XRD showed that the film polymeric of PVA, PAAm polymeric blend PVA-PAAm was seen to have a semicrystalline nature. According to the FTIR analysis, the PVA and PAAm networks in the PVA-PAAm polymer nanofibers were entangled due to the powerful hydrogen bond contact between the PAAm and PVA chains. Observed around (3473.79 and 3414) cm-1 were attributed to the N–H vibration and overlapped to O–H stretching. The spectra of the prepared films exhibit prominent absorption peaks, which are at the wavelength range (200-320) nm. PVA-PAAm polymer nanofibers decrease the energy gap from 3.70eV to 3.40eV. The Wemple-DiDomenico model was used to derive dispersion parameters such as dispersion energy, single oscillator energy, Urbach energy, the static refractive index and the moments of optical spectra the result of calculating by this model was compatible with that value calculated by the Tauc relation. While increased which qualifies them to be used in the electronic devices.