Effects of Electron-Beam Radiation on the Dielectric Properties of PVA/xNiO Nanocomposite for Energy Storage Applications

Abstract

For energy storage applications, a material that has high dielectric permittivity, low loss factor, strong thermal resistance, easy processability, and low cost is highly desirable. In the present study, PVA/xNiO nanocomposite films with different NiO contents of (0, 10, and 50) wt% were prepared by casting technique. The PVA/xNiO of 50 wt% NiO has been irradiated with 3 MeV electron beam at a dose of 50 kGy at room temperature in order to investigate the modifications induced in its dielectric properties. The results show that the NiO nanoparticles are well incorporated inside the PVA matrix and the crystallite size of NiO has been decreased upon doping by 50 wt% NiO from 15.45 to 11.44 nm. Also, PVA/(50%)NiO nanocomposite shows indirect allowed optical transition (3.43 eV) with relatively high dielectric constant (7.60 to 9.55) and low loss factor (<0.1) at high frequency (1 MHz) and the entire indicated range of temperature which proposes to use this material in energy storage applications. The electron beam radiation has increased the dielectric constant (10.52 to 13.94) which is preferable. However, a slight increase is observed in the loss factor (<0.109).