Metal-polymer nanocomposite materials were found to have highly tunable opti-
cal properties. Density functional theory-based calculations were employed to study
trends in Ag/polyvinylidene fluoride nanocomposite optical properties. The frequency-
dependent imaginary part of the dielectric constant was calculated from dipolar inter-
band transitions. The metallic inclusion introduced both occupied and unoccupied
states into the large polymer band gap. Thus, higher inclusion volume fractions
generally led to stronger composite optical response. Spectra from monodisperse sys-
tems correlated well with nanoparticle quantum confinement models. A polydisperse
system exhibited optical properties that correlated best with interparticle distances
along the field direction. Nanodisk and nanorod-shaped inclusions had tunable re-
sponse from field polarization, aspect ratio, crystallographic projections, and nanorod
end-cap morphology. / Graduate / 0495
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/4976 |
| Date | 30 September 2013 |
| Creators | Rowan, Christopher Kenneth |
| Contributors | Paci, Irina |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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