Raman and Photoluminescence spectroscopy of polycarbonate matrices irradiated with different energy 28Si+ ions

Abstract The irradiation of a polycarbonate (PC) matrix with 28 Si + ions has been performed by selecting three different energies: 0.5 MeV, 1.0 MeV and 2.0 MeV. The comparative study of the modifications induced in the polymer as a function of the incident ion beam energy has been carried out in the range of fluences between 5 × 10 13  ions cm −2 and 1 × 10 15  ions cm −2 . The changes induced in the structure of the matrix towards the production of conducting plastics for optoelectronics devices have been evaluated by Raman and Photoluminescence spectroscopy. The carbonization process of the polymer generates a network made of sp 2 -bonded graphitic clusters embedded in a sp 3 -bonded matrix. The amount of nanocrystalline-graphite with respect to amorphous-carbon increases as ion energy and fluence increase, in accordance with the increase of the sp 2 -order arrangement. With 0.5 MeV the modification process is at an initial stage so that the changes, in terms of structure and PL emission, are observed only for the highest fluence, while for 1.0 MeV it has been achieved a higher density of small cluster with an order and homogeneity even better than for 2.0 MeV. The irradiation process with a suitable set of experimental parameters allows tuning the PC emission from ∼510 nm (pristine matrix) up to ∼550–600 nm.