Dielectric, AC conductivity, and complex impedance spectroscopy studies of Ti2CTx MXene reinforced polyvinyl alcohol nanocomposites

Abstract

Herein, Ti(2)CTx MXene-Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite films with different weight percent (wt%) of MXene loadings were successfully prepared using the facile solution casting method. The structural, morphological, optical, thermal, and tensile properties of the nanocomposite films were analyzed using FTIR, XRD, Raman, SEM, UV-Vis spectroscopy, TG-DTA, mechanical tests, and so forth. The variation in dielectric constant, loss tangent, and AC conductivity of the nanocomposite films was analyzed in the range of 1 Hz to 10 MHz with the variation of temperature (30150 degrees C) and MXene concentrations (5-20 wt%) using impedance spectroscopy. The nanocomposite films showed a very high dielectric constant in the range of similar to 10(5) for lower frequency and very low dielectric loss in the range of 0-1 for higher frequency (100 kHz-10 MHz). The dielectric constant, loss tangent, and AC conductivity values increased at a certain temperature and further decreased with increase in temperature. The increase in filler concentration increased the values of these investigated electrical parameters but at a concentration of 20 wt%, the nanocomposite films reached the percolation limit, and hence a slight reduction in the dielectric properties was noticed. Moreover, the complex impedance spectroscopy studies of the nanocomposite films were also carried out and their corresponding circuit diagrams were fitted according to the obtained cole-cole plots.