Abstract

The studies carried out in this paper are directed towards preparation of nanocomposite films of PVA (polyvinyl alcohol)-GO (graphene oxide) with variable wt% of GO by simple solution mixing technique and exploration of spectroscopic, surface morphological, structural, optical, electrical, and mechanical properties. In this article, the detailed molecular structure of PVA-GO polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) was optimized by using the Gaussian code (B.01 version). Experimentally, the structural information was gathered by using the X-ray diffractometer and determined the crystalline size (varying from 12. 82 nm to 24.62 nm for 1–5 wt% of GO in PVA/GO PNCs) and micro-strain (varying between 7.21 × 10−3 and 42.12 × 10−3) produced in the samples through Williamson-hall plot. The existence of the functional groups with their role in the nanocomposites was also examined with the help of FTIR technique. In order to identify the Raman bands (availability of D and G bands at ~1340 and 1595 cm−1, respectively, while the 2D band at ~2910 cm−1) and corresponding structural changes were studied by Raman spectrometer (with the usage of 532 nm laser). The study of surface morphology was performed by utilizing the AFM and FESEM (with EDAX) techniques and effect of GO on the surface roughness of the nanocomposite film was studied. The r.m.s. roughness of the films were set up to be 90.375 nm, 96.449 nm, 98.120 nm, 99.006 nm and 99.891 nm for GO of 1–5 wt%, respectively. The optical properties were determined using UV–Vis-NIR spectrophotometer and tuning of optical bandgap (varied from 3.56 eV to 2.45 eV with 1–4 GO wt%) was investigated. The resulting variation due to GO concentration was also confirmed with structural information. The electrical characteristics (capacitance, dissipation factor and electrical conductivity) were also investigated. The DMA analysis of the nanocomposites was performed to measure the mechanical property (Young's Modulus varying from 2 GPa to 16 GPa for 1–5 GO wt%) and found that the nanofillers (GO) plays an important role to enhance the various abovementioned properties.