Characterization and optical studies of flexible methylcellulose/titanium dioxide nanomaterials

In this work, flexible MC/TiO2 polymer composites were successfully manufactured using the solution casting method to enhance their implementations in optical applications. The composite consisting of methylcellulose (MC) with different concentrations of titanium dioxide (TiO2) of 3%, 6%, and 9%. The successful fabrication of MC/TiO2 films were confirmed through XRD characterization. The addition of TiO2 enhances the refractive indices (n0), it increased from 1.014 for MC respectively to 1.025,1.032 and 1.045 for MC/3%TiO2, MC/6%TiO2 and MC/9%TiO2. The MC exhibited an oscillation energy of 6.86 eV, changed respectively to 5.25 eV, 4.96 eV, and 4.59 eV. Furthermore, the dispersion energy values were observed to be 0.18 eV for MC, respectively changed to 0.23 eV, 0.26 eV, and 0.35 eV, for MC/3%TiO2, MC/6%TiO2 and MC/9%TiO2. The data clearly indicates the introduction of TiO2 into the MC polymer results in a modification of its optical characteristics, to be applicable in different fields of optoelectronics.