Strategic Enhancement of Photocatalytic, Piezoelectric and Dielectric Properties of Solid-State Synthesized BaFe12O19 Nanoparticles Reinforced into PMMA Polymer Matrices Nanocomposites for Energy Storage Applications

Abstract This research focuses on the synthesis and characterization of nanocomposites consisting of barium hexaferrite (BaFe 12 O 19 ) nanoparticles reinforced into poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer matrices. The nanocomposites were prepared using a solution-casting technique, while the barium hexaferrite nanoparticles were synthesized via a conventional solid-state reaction method, followed by calcination at 800°C for 1 hour. Structural, morphological, photocatalytic, piezoelectric, and dielectric properties were evaluated using several characterization techniques, including FTIR, XRD, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, d33 meter, and LCR analyzer. FTIR analysis identified absorption bands corresponding to Ba-O and Fe-O, as well as organic functional groups associated with the PMMA polymer matrices. XRD analysis confirmed the hexagonal structure of BaFe 12 O 19 nanoparticles, with an average crystallite size of 15.23 nm. SEM analysis determined the particle size to be approximately 28 nm. UV-Vis spectroscopy evaluated the nanoparticles band-gap 1.76 eV and assessed photocatalytic activity. Under UV irradiation, all nanocomposites progressively degraded methylene blue (MB), where the 40 wt% BFO/PMMA nanocomposite achieving comparatively higher degradation efficiency of 67.22% than 61.78% for 50 wt% BFO/PMMA nanocomposite after 60 min. The maximum piezoelectric coefficient was determined 40 pC/N for 50 wt% BFO/PMMA nanocomposite with d 33 meter analysis. The dielectric, impedance and modulus characteristics were observed over the low-high frequency range 40–110 MHz. As barium hexaferrite nanoparticles reinforcement increased into PMMA polymer matrices, the 50 wt% composition exhibited relatively high dielectric constant 7.1 and ac conductivity 2.25\(\:{\times\:10}^{-3}\) S cm − 1 , along with low dielectric loss 0.08 at high frequency range (1M-110M) Hz. Impedance and electrical-modulus analysis further revealed broad non-Debye relaxation behavior associated with heterogeneous BFO/PMMA interfaces and localized charge-transport processes. The dispersion observed in the plots of Z″ and M″ with increasing frequency indicates the occurrence of dielectric relaxation. Overall, relatively higher BaFe 12 O 19 reinforcement enhanced multifunctional properties of the nanocomposite, demonstrating their potential for energy storage, sensing, actuations, dielectric and photocatalytic pollutant-remediation applications.