Dielectric and optoelectronics properties of thin films based on chitosan containing titanium oxide/hematite and their potential for optoelectronics devices

Chitosan was encapsulated by TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles using laser ablation route. The synthesized films have different nanoparticles concentration depending on the ablation time. The films have been studied using XRD, FTIR, TGA, TEM, UV, and AC measurements. The TGA results show that the most stable film was pure CS, and the lowest thermally stable film was the film of 10 min ablation. Further, the TEM showed that the particle size varied from 125 to 137 nm. Moreover, the direct band gap, indirect band gap, and refractive index were studied optically. The direct band gap decreased from 5.72 to 3.55 eV by raising the content of the doping. Further, the refractive index increased from 2.04 to 2.95. The indirect band gap has been calculated optically and obtained a decrease in band gap from 4.76 to 1.57 eV. Chitosan/TiO₂/Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles have good optical characteristics, which might be used in the creation of new optoelectronics devices. The objective of this study is to improve the characteristics of CS polymer by incorporating metal nanoparticles, namely TiO₂ and Fe₂O₃, into the matrix using a laser ablation approach. This is done with the aim of enhancing the performance of the polymer for optoelectronics applications.