Synthesis,optoelectronic and thermal characterization of PMMA-MWCNTs nanocomposite thin films incorporated by ZrO2 NPs

PMMA polymer doped by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) has attracted much attention as promising materials for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. The undoped poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and PMMA/MWCNTs nanocomposite films doped with varying concentrations of Zirconium dioxide nanoparticles (ZrO₂ NPs) are synthesized using the casting method. It is found that the transmittance (\(T\%\)) decreases significantly as wt%?=?5% of MWCNTs is injected into PMMA matrix. In addition, increasing the concentration of ZrO₂ NPs into PMMA- MWCNTs nanocomposite thin films results in a further reduction of the transmittance and a further increase of the reflectance (\(R\%\)). The optical band gap energy (E_g) of PMMA-MWCNTs/ZrO₂ NPs decreases from 4.063 \(eV\) to 3.845 \(eV\) upon injection of 5% of MWCNTs and gradually increasing the ZrO₂ concentration in PMMA matrix. Furthermore, other essential optical parameters are estimated using different classical models such as Drude, Spitzer-Fan, Sellmeier, and Wemple–DiDomenico (WDD). Interestingly, thermal stability of PMMA-MWCNTs nanocomposite films is enhanced dramatically upon increasing the content of ZrO₂ NPs. The synthesized nanocomposite thin films could be potential candidates for fabrication realistic scaled optoelectronic devices.