Chemical and structural changes in polyamide based organic-inorganic hybrid materials upon incorporation of SeS2O62- precursor

Composite organic-inorganic functional materials are of significant importance in various applications of science and technology. In this work, physicochemical characterization of such composite materials obtained after the exposure of polyamide PA 6 to K(2)SeS(2)0(6) precursor solution was performed. Chalco-genized polymer surface was characterized using X-ray diffraction, infrared, and UV-vis spectroscopies while their bulk chemical analysis was performed using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Crystallite size was not found to change with the exposure to K2SeS206 precursor but PA 6 chain-chain separation decreased. Importantly, infrared and X-ray analyses showed chemical bonding taking place between the PA 6 and SeS2O62- ions via -NH- functional group. A distinct change in bandgap, E-g, value was observed in UV-vis spectra due to the presence of Se2S2O62- , SeSO32- and Se2S2O62- ions formed via decomposition of the precursor material in acidic medium. After extended 4h chalcogenation a distinct absorption due to the elemental selenium was also observed as obtained from Tauc plots. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.