Effect of O2, N2, Ar, and Ar/O2 Plasma Treatment on Optical Properties of Polyaniline Films

Khalaf, Mohammed K; Mohammed Ali, Iman A; Dathaan, Muhammed Jwair; Hamil, Muslim Idan

doi:10.21608/ejchem.2021.66410.3425

Effect of O2, N2, Ar, and Ar/O2 Plasma Treatment on Optical Properties of Polyaniline Films

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Chief Scientific researchers. Ministry of Sciences and Technology / Baghdad / Republic of Iraq

² Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Baghdad, Iraq

³ General Directorate of Salahuddin Education, Iraqi Ministry of Education, Salahuddin, Tikrit, Iraq.

⁴ Department of physics, College of Science, University of Misan, Maysan, Iraq

10.21608/ejchem.2021.66410.3425

Abstract

In the current work, improvement of the optical properties of Polyaniline (PAni) films was investigated using cold plasma technique. Samples were treated with different gases including argon (Ar), oxygen (O2), nitrogen (N2) and Ar/O2 mixture using low-pressure dc glow discharge. Films of about 300 nm were fabricated by simple deposition of polyaniline suspension in toluene on glass slides. UV-Vis spectrophotometric measurements of the prepared films showed that plasma treatment resulted in a significant increase in the optical band gap of the films. Plasma treatment was found to increase the band gap energies range from (1.7–1.98 eV) of the untreated films to 1.8-2.42 eV of the treated ones. Exposure to oxygen plasma was found to alter the chemical composition of the films and thus, resulting in a high transmission (over 85%) of the peak centred at 550 nm. This increases the photoelectric performance of the plasma treated polyaniline films

Keywords