Fabrication and characterization of Electrospun PVA nanofibers filled by MgO and Co3O4 nanomaterials for optoelectronic application

In the context of motivating optoelectronic applications, nanofibers of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and its nanocomposite with mixing magnesium oxide and cobalt oxide (MgO-Co3O4) nanomaterials (1:1 wt.%) as a fillers in concentrations: 2%, 4%, and 6% were manufacture using method of solution electrospinning performed at RT and high voltage11 kV. The products were studied using techniques including FTIR, FESEM and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups belonging to the PVA/(MgO-Co3O4) composite nanofibers. The result of FESEM analysis showed that the branched fine nanofibers were of average diameter ranged 225.9 to 163.6 nm in (MgO-Co3O4) fillers concentrations 0% to 6%. The absorption of composite nanofibers increased with increasing the concentrations of (MgO-Co3O4) NPs and the presence of an absorption band appears in the UV region at around 290 nm. Also the refractive index and extinction coefficient results revealed an immense enhancement from 1.656 to 2.019, and 0.0095 to 0.0106 for the PVA-6% (MgO-Co3O4) sample compared to PVA, respectively. Absorption spectra fitting (ASF) calculation of the optical energy gap is roughly in line with Tauc's model, which was in the range of 3.53 to 3.10 eV and 3.60 to 3.05 eV in the PVA/6% (MgO-Co3O4) sample compared to PVA, respectively.