Structural, dielectric dispersion and relaxation, and optical properties of multiphase semicrystalline PEO/PMMA/ZnO nanocomposites

Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) of tailorable dielectric and optical properties are categorized as polymer nanodielectrics (PNDs) for their uses in developing flexible and stretchable-type advanced organoelectronic devices. This paper reports the detailed structural, dielectric, and optical properties of multiphase PEO/PMMA/ZnO nanocomposites comprising poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blended with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) in equal composition as a host matrix and zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles as filler with varying concentrations (1–5 wt%). X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed the successful formation of these nanocomposites with a considerable decrease in percent crystallinity of the polymer matrix which was attributed to alterations in crystalline parameters of the PEO resulting from multiphase polymer–nanoparticle interfaces and the electrostatic interactions. The dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS) of 20 Hz to 1 MHz range confirmed that the confinement of homogenously distributed ZnO nanoparticles in the PEO/PMMA structures caused a significant lowering in the dielectric permittivity governed by interfacial polarization and the dipolar ordering with some alteration in conductivity and chain segmental relaxation processes which reveal suitability of these hybrid nanocomposites as low permittivity PNDs for microelectronics. The UV-Vis absorbance and energy bandgap results were found filler concentration-dependent which explores these composites as promising materials for optoelectronic device applications.