Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2019) 134: 42
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-12462-0

Regular Article

Effect of 8 MeV electron beam irradiation on the structural, optical and electrical properties of a PANI-MnWO₄ nanocomposite

¹ Nanoscience Research Centre, Department of Physics, Nirmala College, Muvattupuzha, 686 661, Kerala, India
² Department of Physics, Newman College, 685 585, Thodupuzha, Kerala, India
³ Department of Physics, Mar Athanasius College, 686 666, Kothamangalam, Kerala, India
⁴ Department of Physics, Mangalore University, 574 199, Mangalagangotri, Karnataka, India

^* e-mail: nanoncm@gmail.com

Received: 3 September 2018
Accepted: 10 December 2018
Published online: 30 January 2019

Abstract

The effect of 8MeV electron beam irradiation on the structural, optical and electrical properties of a PANI-MnWO₄ nanocomposite synthesized by in situ chemical oxidative polymerization in the presence of MnWO₄ nanoparticles was investigated. The dose-dependent effect of electron irradiation was studied using various characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy, UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and impedance analyser. Systematic investigation based on the results of structural studies confirms that electron beam irradiation induces defects and particle size variation on the PANI-MnWO₄ nanocomposite, which in turn results in improvements in optical absorption, band gap, DC and AC conductivity, and dielectric constant and loss tangent.