Effects of oxygen irradiation on the electrical properties of polyethylene oxide/nickel oxide composite films

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the ion beam on the properties of composite PEO/NiO, which was fabricated using the solution casting method and applied in advanced dielectric applications. The samples were exposed to ion beam at different fluencies (5 × 10¹⁶, 10 × 10¹⁶, and 15 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm²) using cold cathode ion source. The structure of the pure and treated PEO/NiO films was studied using the XRD technique, which demonstrated the successful fabrication of the composite PEO/NiO. Moreover, the morphological changes were analyzed by SEM, which indicates the homogeneous distribution of NiO in PEO. Furthermore, the dielectric characteristics of PEO/NiO films were tested at a frequency range of 40–10⁶ Hz. The dielectric constant enhanced from 22.8 for PEO/NiO to 128.5 for the irradiated 15 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm², and the energy density enhanced from 1.1x10⁻⁴ to 5.6x10⁻⁴ J/m³. The results demonstrate that the irradiated PEO/NiO composite exhibits novel dielectric properties, allowing the use of the irradiated PEO/NiO composite in different devices as super-capacitors and batteries.

Keywords:

• Nanocomposite
• irradiation
• ionization
• surface modifications
• dielectric properties

Acknowledgment

Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University Researchers Supporting Project number (PNURSP2024R399), Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).