Developing novel UV shielding films based on PVA/Gelatin/0.01CuO nanocomposite: On the properties optimization using γ-irradiation

Abstract In this work novel poly(vinyl alcohol) PVA/Gelatin/0.01CuO nanocomposite films were synthesized and characterized in order to fabricate UV shielding films based on low cost, biological safe and eco-friendly materials. The effect of gelatin ratio and γ-irradiation on the structural, morphological and optical properties were investigated. The developed nanocomposite films reveal sharp absorption coefficient in the UV region with photonic energy ≥3.1 eV, which confirms the ability of the prepared nanocomposite films to absorb different UV subtypes (UVA, UVB and UVC). The obtained absorption values for PVA/Gelatin/0.01 CuO nanocomposite films are the highest between all published data for other PVA nanocomposite. 20% gelatin and irradiation with 20 kGy γ-dose were found to be the optimal conditions for the UV shielding applications. Also the investigated parameters (refractive index, extinction coefficient, optical dielectric constant, oscillator energy, dispersion energy, the ratio of the carrier concentration to the effective mass and optical conductivity) show the suitability of the prepared nanocomposite for other applications, such as: γ-ray sensors and optical communications.