Preparation and Characterization of ZnO Nanorods and Analysis of the Effect of Photo Irradiation on the Physical Properties of Polymer Nano Composites

Abstract

This study investigatedthe photodegradation of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) based nanocomposites with different weight ratios of Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods prepared hydrothermally.Scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy,and X-ray diffraction analysis are utilized to study the morphological characteristics and size of ZnO nanorods were studied via, where, films were made by mixing with a polymer solution at different weight percentages of1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, and 5% and a thickness of 70±5 μm. The as-prepared samples were exposed to photoradiation at a wavelength of 356 nm at different time points. The photodegradation of the prepared films with and without additives were assessed with Fourier transforminfrared spectroscopy and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy to monitor the changes in hydroxyl coefficient, carbonyl coefficient and dissociation constant (Kd), which was used to illustrate the effect of ZnO nanorod addition. The prepared ZnO nanorods showeda wide range of applications inPVAphotodegradation.In addition to the mean chain scission and degradation degree, the molecular weight and chain scission decreased in the presence of the ZnO nanorods, and this observation was consistent with that described in other studies