Reinforcing the structure, optical, and dielectric spectroscopies of poly(ethylene oxide)/poly(methyl methacrylate) thermoplastics by CoFe nanoparticles for optoelectronic device fabrication

Hybrid polymer nanocomposites (HPNC) with improved optical and magneto-dielectric properties are an exciting class of materials from economic and industrial points of view. In the present work, CoFe magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), and HPNC based on a polyethylene oxide (PEO)/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) matrix were synthesized by simple and cost-effective chemical methods. The NPs morphology, HPNC structure, and film surface were investigated using FE-scan electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform-infrared techniques. The PEO/PMMA blend exhibits 39% crystallinity, which is reduced upon 1.0 wt% CoFe NPs addition. The uniformly distributed CoFe NPs resulted in a reduction in the FTIR absorption band’s intensity. The optical spectra displayed the high transmittance of the blend matrix and CoFe/PEO/PMMA. The influence of CoFe content on the Urbach energy, refractive index, and carrier concentration is reported. The optical band gap ( \({E}_{g}\) $E_g$ ) was evaluated by two different methods and was found to decrease from 5.0 to 4.5 eV. The dielectric spectroscopy was studied in at frequencies of 1 × 10²–5 × 10⁶ Hz, and temperatures in the range of 30–110 °C. The real (imaginary) dielectric constant, modulus, and the correlation between the dielectric constant and dc conductivity were studied. The blend’s ac conductivity was 4.14 × 10^–4 S/m, which increased to 6.91 × 10^–4 S/m upon 1.0 wt% CoFe NPs doping. The enhancement in the structural, optical parameters and dielectric features, and the ac and dc conductivities, make CoFe/PEO/PMMA HPNC the best candidate for advanced optoelectronics, photonic devices, and microcapacitors.