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SiC-PVA nanocomposite films, synthesized using solution-casting technique were structurally characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. Morphological studies of the SiC-PVA nanocomposite films were carried out using Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). TEM analysis confirms that the size of SiC nanocrystals present in PVA matrix are 23 6 9 nm, which is consistent with size calculated using XRD. SiC-PVA nanocomposite films were further characterized for their thermal and electrical properties. Thermogravimetric/ differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) indicates that the char yield of nanocomposite films containing 3 wt % SiC nanocrystal is 30% more than PVA. This increase in char yield is an indication of the potency of flame retardation of SiC-PVA nanocomposite films. I-V analysis reveals that Schottky mechanism is the dominant conduction mechanism which is responsible for the increase in conductivity of PVA with the addition of SiC nanocrystals.

Nanocomposite films of Poly (methylmethacrylate) with different concentration of silver nanoparticles were prepared by ex-situ method. Firstly, silver nanoparticles were obtained by reducing the aqueous solution of silver nitrate with sodium borohydride then Ag-PMMA films were prepared by mixing colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles with solution of polymer. Thin solid films were structurally characterized using UV-VIS spectroscopy and TEM. The appearance of surface plasmon resonance peak, characteristic of silver nanoparticles at 420 nm in UV-VIS absorption spectra of Ag-PMMA films confirms the formation of Ag-PMMA nanocomposite. TEM showed Ag nanoparticles of average size 8 nm embedded in PMMA matrix. Analysis of absorption and reflection data indicates towards the reduction in optical band gap and increase in refractive index of the resulting nanocomposite. The synthesized Ag-PMMA nanocomposite has been found to be more conducting than PMMA as ascertained using I-V studies. The decrease in band gap and increase in conductivity can be correlated due to the formation of localized electronic states in PMMA matrix due to insertion of Ag nanoparticles. The PMMA thin films with dispersed silver nanoparticles may be useful for nanophotonic devices.

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Silver (Ag) nanoparticles play a significant role in nanomaterials science and technology due to many peculiarities. One of the main characteristic of Ag nanoparticles is the occurrence of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) due to the collective oscillation of free electrons in visible region. Due to this distinctive feature Ag nanoparticles have numerous applications such as in catalysis, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy, photonics, solar cells etc. In the present work, no additional stabilizing agent has been used. The characteristic SPR peak appears at around 405 nm in UV-Visible absorption spectra of PVA-Ag nanocomposite films, thereby confirming the nanocomposite formation. The synthesized nanocomposite films were structurally characterized using fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy. FTIR spectra of PVA-Ag nanocomposite film indicates that PVA matrix is modified by Ag nanoparticles which is in agreement with the results obtained using Raman spectroscopy. TEM as well as FE-SEM micrographs reveal that Ag nanoparticles are mostly spherical in shape. The knoop microhardness number of the nanocomposites was found to increase from 2.4 Kgf/mm 2 for PVA to 12.1 kgf/mm 2 for PVA-Ag nanocomposite film loaded with 0.062 wt% Ag nanoparticles.