Regular Article

Preparation, structural investigation and optical properties determination of composite films based on PAZO polymer doped with GeTe₄-Cu chalcogenide particles

¹ University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy, Department of Physics, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd., 1756 Sofia, Bulgaria
² Institute of Optical Materials and Technologies − Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. Georgi Bonchev Bl.109, 1113 Sofia, Bulgaria

^* e-mail: ani_st@web.de

Received: 8 May 2021
Received in final form: 28 June 2021
Accepted: 23 August 2021
Published online: 8 September 2021

Abstract

The work presents preparation, structural investigation and optical properties determination of composite films based on the azopolymer (poly[1-[4-(3-carboxy-4-hydroxyphenylazo)benzenesulfonamido]-1,2-ethanediyl, sodium salt]), shortly PAZO, doped with 1 wt.% particles of the previously synthesized by us new tellurium containing chalcogenide system (GeTe₄)_100-xCu_x, where x = 5, 10, 15 and 20 mol.%. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) was applied to analyze the structure of the chalcogenide bulk material. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has been used to study the particles and the composite films morphology. The transmittance coefficient (T), the reflectance coefficient (R), the refractive index (n), the extinction coefficient (k), the optical absorption coefficient (α) and the optical band gap (E_g^opt) of the composite films were determined. Birefringence was induced by a He-Cd laser with a wavelength 442 nm and measured with probe Diode Pumped Solid State (DPSS) laser at 635 nm. The influence of the dopants concentration on the optical performance of the composite films has been discussed.