Electron beam radiation induced solid-state synthesis of gold nanoparticles in polyvinyl alcohol films and their Physico-chemical properties

A straightforward strategy is proposed to prepare composites of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) films under the effect of electron beam irradiation. The composite films were characterized using UV-Visible spectroscopy, TEM, TGA and AC electrical conductivity measurements. PVA/Au nanocomposites exhibited a surface plasmon peak at about 540 nm assigned to Au nanoparticles. The values of optical energy band gap (Eg, eV) were deeply reduced from 5.8 eV for pure PVA to 3.5 eV for 300 kGy irradiated sample. TEM investigation indicated the formation of more AuNPs as the irradiation dose increases. The AuNPs were found to be in the size range of 10-65 nm, with a mixture of different morphologies. TGA data indicated that the incorporation of Au nanoparticles within PVA matrix and increasing EB irradiation dose decreases the thermal stability of PVA/Au nanocomposite films. AC conductivity at room temperature of PVA/Au samples showed a steady behavior followed by a sharp increase as a function of the applied field frequency for different irradiation doses.