Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2019) 134: 415
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2019-12793-8

Regular Article

Tailoring optical transmittance of polyvinyl alcohol by FeCl₃-doping for photovoltaic application

¹ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt
² Basic Science Department, Higher Institute of Engineering & Technology, King Marriott Academy, Alexandria, Egypt
³ Physics and Chemistry Department, Faculty of Education, Matrouh University, Matrouh, Egypt

^* e-mail: m_hamad76@yahoo.com

Received: 27 December 2018
Accepted: 31 May 2019
Published online: 30 August 2019

Abstract

In this paper, solid films of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) complexed with different concentration of FeCl₃ have been successfully synthesized. X-ray diffraction showed that a drop in the crystallinity of PVA with FeCl₃. UV-Vis spectra show that FeCl₃ remarkably enhances UV absorption of PVA, indicating a reduction of optical band gap (OBG). This led to the assumption that increased UV absorption can be assigned to an influence of FeCl₃ on PVA synthesis. In addition, OBG study shows decrements in the values of direct band gap and indirect band gap with FeCl₃ content. These results led to conclude that FeCl₃ doped PVA films are good candidates in the packaging community and photovoltaic application.