Recent study of PF/ZnO nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterization and optical properties

One of the earliest manufactured and most frequently used resins is phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin. Even with lesser loadings, their characteristics can be enhanced by the addition of nano-ZnO. The novel PF/ZnO Nanocomposites synthesis by ultrasonic process. The optical properties of materials modified with wide-band gap semiconductor described via UV–vis spectroscopy. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) one of the possible tool to measure the reflected light from powders and rough surfaces clearly. Spectra obtained by DRS treated with Kubelka-Munk function in order to describe the energy band gap accurately for modified and pure para hydroxy benzoic acid polymer. The band gap of para hydroxy benzoic acid is about 4.5 eV and in modified samples range from 3.4 to 3.3 eV; the lowest band gap value corresponds to the higher ZnO concentration (0.005gm). The surface morphology characterize by SEM and AFM m where obtain the effected nanostructure as increase on the surface morphology and the roughness which is increase according the aggregation occur. EDX mapping appearance increase the distribution and present of zinc nanostructured in modified polymer. It was discovered that this was because of the ZnO NPs' good dispersion in the polymer matrix and their robust interfacial interaction with the PF matrix. © 2022