Spectroscopic investigations of ZnO-polymer composites grown via wet chemical method

Composites are made from a synergy of different materials, hence they exhibit improved properties compared to their individual constituents. With interest in ZnO as an optical material, our primary focus is to determine how the incorporation of polymers can improve the optical properties of ZnO microstructures. This paper presents the material properties of ZnO-polymer composites investigated using x-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. A combination of wet chemical methods was used to synthesize the composites—hydrothermal growth of ZnO microrods and dip-coating in different aqueous polymer solutions. The findings show that the composites have the same structural properties as the base ZnO material, but the photoluminescence properties differ depending on the type of polymer used. Selecting appropriate polymers can then be used to yield ZnO-based materials with different luminescence characteristics.