Structural and Optical Characterization of g-C3N4 Nanosheet Integrated PVC/PVP Polymer Nanocomposites

Abstract

The present work considers the integration of g-C3N4 nanosheets into PVC/PVP polymer nanocomposites at ratios of 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, and 1.0 wt%. The XRD data scans showed semicrystalline structures for all PVC/PVP/g-C3N4 polymer blend films. The FTIR and Raman measurements revealed intermolecular hydrogen bonding between the g-C3N4 surface and the OH− groups of the PVC/PVP network. ESEM morphology analysis for PVC/PVP/g-C3N4 nanocomposite films displayed homogeneous surface textures. The data of TGA showed improved thermal stability as the decomposition temperature increased from 262 to 276 °C with the content of g-C3N4 (0.0–1.0 wt%). The optical absorbance data for PVC/PVP films improved after the addition of g-C3N4. The optical energy gaps showed compositional dependence on the g-C3N4 content, which changed from 5.23 to 5.34 eV at indirect allowed transitions. The refractive index for these blend films enhanced (1.83–3.96) with the inclusion of g-C3N4. Moreover, the optical susceptibility for these nanocomposite films increased as the content of g-C3N4 changed from 0.0 to 1.0 wt%. Finally, the values of the nonlinear refractive index showed improvement with the increased percentage of g-C3N4. When g-C3N4 was added up to 1.0 wt%, the DC conductivity improved from 4.21 × 10−8 to 1.78 × 10−6 S/cm. The outcomes of this study prove the suitable application of PVC/PVP/g-C3N4 in optoelectronic fiber sensors.