Incorporated Au/Se nanoparticles into HPMC/CMC blend for enhancing structural, optical and morphological properties: Hybrid nanocomposites for optoelectronic applications

The present study employed a solution-casting approach to fabricate a hybrid polymer system using hydroxypropyl methylcellulose and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (HPMC/CMC) with different weight percentages of gold/selenium (Au/Se) nanoparticles (50:50). The chemical reaction between the components of the nanocomposites was studied using Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, and UV/visible spectroscopic analyses, which indicated the prevalence of the amorphous areas. AFM and FESEM were used to check the homogeneity in addition to the morphology of the current samples. The optical energy gap was reduced because the resulting nanocomposite films mostly included amorphous areas rather than crystalline ones. The HPMC/ CMC samples were carefully analysed for their band gap metallization criterion (Mc), optical conductivity, and refractive indices. The optical characteristics of the sample were improved, and the Urbach energy (Eurb) reached a new level of 2.045 eV for the film filled with 5 wt% of Au/Se NPs (HCAuSe-5), up from 0.415 eV for the pure HPMC/CMC blend. EDS mapping confirmed the successful incorporation of the (Au/Se) nanoparticles into the HPMC/CMC matrices. The roughness parameters, including surface kurtosis, surface skewness, root mean square, and average roughness, were calculated. The samples with 3 and 4 wt% of the nanofillers had a Rku value of 2.787243 and 2.87752, respectively, which got the best rough nature, lowered the Ra value, improved the contact characteristics, and made it more useful in high-tech applications, particularly in optoelectronics.