New Jersey Institute of Technology Digital Commons @ NJIT Theses Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 2019 Optical properties of polymers and their applications Samiha Hossain New Jersey Institute of Technology Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses Part of the Materials Science and Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Hossain, Samiha, "Optical properties of polymers and their applications" (2019). Theses. 1685. https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/theses/1685 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at Digital Commons @ NJIT. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ NJIT. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Copyright Warning & Restrictions The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. 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Please Note: The author retains the copyright while the New Jersey Institute of Technology reserves the right to distribute this thesis or dissertation Printing note: If you do not wish to print this page, then select “Pages from: first page # to: last page #” on the print dialog screen The Van Houten library has removed some of the personal information and all signatures from the approval page and biographical sketches of theses and dissertations in order to protect the identity of NJIT graduates and faculty. ABSTRACT OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS by Samiha Hossain The last decade has witnessed explosive growth in the world of photoactive polymers for a variety of applications in several sectors of the global economy. The need for efficient, reliable, and low-cost data acquisition, storage, processing, transmission, and display technologies has made it necessary for research aimed at addressing these needs. Recent accomplishments in this materials area represent exciting opportunities for major innovations in various fields. However, further work needs to be done to transfer the technology from fundamental R&D to manufacturing. The goal of this study is to provide a better understanding of the optical properties of polymers and identify the candidates that are ideal for a variety of applications. The fundamental optical properties and characteristics of several commonly used polymers are presented in this study. Mathematical simulations of signal propagation through a polymer core waveguide are examined to determine the materials that are most suitable for long range communications. Other applications such as electronic devices, temperature and pressure sensors, protective coatings and energetic materials are briefly considered. Self-healing and self-repair in polymers are examined. OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS by Samiha Hossain A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of New Jersey Institute of Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering Interdisciplinary Program in Materials Science and Engineering August 2019 APPROVAL PAGE OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS AND THEIR APPLICATIONS Samiha Hossain Dr. Nuggehalli M. Ravindra, Thesis Advisor Date Professor of Physics, NJIT Dr. Michael Jaffe, Committee Member Date Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering, NJIT Dr. Sagnik Basuray, Committee Member Date Assistant Professor, Chemical & Materials Engineering, NJIT BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Author: Samiha Hossain Degree: Master of Science Date: August 2019 Undergraduate and Graduate Education: • Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 2019 • Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 2015 • Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, School of Engineering, New Brunswick, NJ 2012 Major: Materials Science and Engineering Publications and Presentations: Samiha Hossain and N. M. Ravindra, “Self-Healing in Materials: An Overview,” Proceedings of the 2019 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition, San Antonio, TX, pp. 1643- 1661, March 2019 iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would firstly like to thank my thesis advisor Dr. N. M. Ravindra for his continuous, energetic guidance, helpful constructive criticism and kind advice that directed me while I completed my thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Michael Jaffe and Dr. Sagnik Basuray for agreeing to be on my committee. Lastly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my peers, Jonathan Martinez, Airefetalo Sadoh and Anushua Arif for their contribution to the project. The countless hours they put in and their illuminating views on issues related to the project were invaluable for its completion. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1 INTRODUCTION TO POLYMERS.………………………………..……... 1 1.1 Classification of Polymers…………………………………………..… 1 1.2 Physical Properties of Polymers………………………………….…… 5 1.3 Mechanical Properties of Polymers…………………………………… 6 2 OPTICAL PROPERTIES: FUNDAMENTALS……………………………. 8 2.1 Dielectric Constant……………………………………………………. 8 2.2 Refractive Index………………………………………………………. 9 2.3 Dispersion and Absorption……………………………………………. 10 2.4 Relation to Dielectric Constant………...……………………………... 11 2.5 Reflection…...………………………………………………………… 12 2.6 Absorption…………………………………………………………….. 13 2.7 Transmission…………………………………………………………... 14 2.8 Emissivity…...………………………………………………………… 14 2.9 Kramers-Kronig Relations and the Cauchy Method………………….. 15 3 OPTICAL AND ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF POLYMERS……...…. 17 3.1 Behavior in a Steady (d.c.) Electric Field……………………………... 17 3.2 Optical Properties…………...………………………………………… 19 3.3 Color and Infrared Absorption…………...…………………………… 20 3.4 Refraction……………………………...……………………………… 21 vi TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Chapter Page 3.6 Transparency…………………...……………………………………... 22 4 FUNDAMENTALS OF DOPING OF POLYMERS…………...………….. 25 4.1 The Concept of Doping……...………………………………………... 25 4.2 Examples of the Effect of Doping on Optical Properties of Polymers... 26 4.3 Influence of Impurities on Optical Properties of Polymers…………… 30 5 WAVEGUIDE FUNDAMENTALS………………………………………... 31 5.1 Optical Propagation…………………………………………………… 32 5.2 Boundary Conditions: Reflection and Transmission………………….. 37 6 SIMULATIONS………...…………………………………………………... 38 6.1 Description………………………………………………...………….. 38 7 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION…………………...……………………….. 41 7.1 Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT)………………. 41 7.2 Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)...……………………………….. 46 7.3 Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)………...………………………………….. 51 7.4 Polyaniline (PANI)……………………………………………………. 55 8 APPLICATIONS AND FUTURE WORK…………………………………. 58 8.1 Sensors………………………………………………………………… 58 8.2 Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) Solar Cells……………………………… 64 8.3 Coatings……………………………………………………………….. 68 8.4 Energetic Materials……………………………………………………. 72 vii TABLE OF CONTENTS (Continued) Chapter Page 8.5 Future Work………………………………………………………… 73 9 REFERENCES……………………………………………………... 75 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1 U.S. Production of Major Plastics and Synthetic Fibers in 2012 …..... 2 1.2 Chemical Structure of Repeating Units of Commonly Used Polymers 4 7.1 F8BT Max and Min Values of its Transmission Spectra ……………. 44 7.2 PMMA Waveguide Max and Min Values of its Transmission Spectra 49 7.3 PVA Waveguide Max and Min Values of its Transmission Spectra ... 52 8.1 Examples of Different Types of Polymeric Gas Sensors ....…………. 61 8.2 Different Types of Polymeric Biosensors …………………………… 63 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1.1 Division of polymers based on thermal response …………………… 2 1.2 Synthesis of nylon-6,6 by condensation polymerization ……………. 4 3.1 a) Reflection and (b) scattering of light on transmission through a transparent medium, (c) Haze produced by wide-angle forward scattering of light, (d) Gloss: (from the top) specular reflection; perfect diffuse reflection; intermediate behavior. The polar envelope shows the angular distribution of reflected light intensity…………… 24 4.1 (a) Normalized absorbance of PVC/NiO nanocomposites films and (b) Transmittance spectra of these nanocomposites ………………... 26 4.2 FTIR spectra of the pure and the VO2+ (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 mol%) doped PVP polymer electrolyte films ……………………………….. 27 4.3 Absorption spectra of the pure and the VO2+ (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 mol%) doped PVP polymer electrolyte……………………………………… 27 4.4 The absorption spectra in the UV–VIS region for films of PVA/PPY and that doped with (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 g of CoCl2 6H2O)…… 28 4.5 The variation of transmittance for (PVP-KBr) composite vs wavelength………………………………………………………….... 28 4.6 The variation of optical absorbance for (PVP-KBr) composite vs wavelength…………………………………………………………… 29 4.7 The variation of optical absorption for PS-PMMA composite doped with NaF……………………………………………………………... 29 5.1 Snell’s Law of Refraction …………………………………………… 33 5.2 Total Internal Reflection …………………………………………….