Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Polystyrene-Silver Nanowire Composites

The optical properties of polymers can be improved by introducing nanomaterials like silver, iron, copper, as these metals exhibits surface plasmon resonance absorption when exposed to visible light. In the present work the influence of silver nanowires (AgNWs) on structure, morphology and optical properties of polystyrene (PS) has been studied. Polystyrene/ AgNW (PSAW) composites is prepared by growing silver nanowires directly into Polystyrene solution. Structural and morphological characteristics have been studied by XRD and FESEM. The silver nanowires exhibit FCC structure in the composite. FESEM of the composites shows uniform distribution of AgNWs in the matrix and they aligned to form a network in the polymer matrix. UV- Vis spectrum shows that the absorption peak in PS has shifted towards the higher wavelengths as the concentration of AgNWs increased in PS. Photoluminescence spectra of the composites excited at 320 nm shows two emission peaks at 410 nm and 440 nm which can be attributed to photoluminescent radioactive recombination of sp – band electrons with the holes in the valance d band.