Nanocomposite films of Poly (methylmethacrylate) with different concentration of silver nanoparticles were prepared by ex-situ method. Firstly, silver nanoparticles were obtained by reducing the aqueous solution of silver nitrate with sodium borohydride then Ag-PMMA films were prepared by mixing colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles with solution of polymer. Thin solid films were structurally characterized using UV-VIS spectroscopy and TEM. The appearance of surface plasmon resonance peak, characteristic of silver nanoparticles at 420 nm in UV-VIS absorption spectra of Ag-PMMA films confirms the formation of Ag-PMMA nanocomposite. TEM showed Ag nanoparticles of average size 8 nm embedded in PMMA matrix. Analysis of absorption and reflection data indicates towards the reduction in optical band gap and increase in refractive index of the resulting nanocomposite. The synthesized Ag-PMMA nanocomposite has been found to be more conducting than PMMA as ascertained using I-V studies. The decrease in band gap and increase in conductivity can be correlated due to the formation of localized electronic states in PMMA matrix due to insertion of Ag nanoparticles. The PMMA thin films with dispersed silver nanoparticles may be useful for nanophotonic devices.
Effects of silver nanoparticles on Raman spectrum and fluorescence enhancement of nano-diamond