Effects of O7+ and Ni9+ swift heavy ions irradiation on polyacrylamide grafted Gum acacia thin film and sorption of methylene blue

Acrylamide was graft copolymerized onto Gum acacia using N, N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide and potassium persulphate as a crosslinker-initiator system. Synthesized polymer film was irradiated with 80 MeV O7+ and 100 MeV Ni9+ ion beams at various fluences ranging from 1 × 1011 to 5 × 1012 ions cm−2. Significant changes in property profile with respect to swelling, optical, chemical, structural, morphological and thermal properties were observed after irradiation. Percentage swelling was found to increase with the increase in ions fluence. Maximum percentage swelling (450%) was observed in case of Ni9+ ion irradiated polymer film. The FTIR spectra showed variation in intensity of the typical bands and prominence of some bands indicated increase in amorphous region of polymer film after irradiation. This was also supported by X-ray diffraction studies. Structural modifications were further supported by scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. Additionally, the polymer films irradiated with SHIs with different ion fluencies were evaluated for methylene blue sorption behaviour. The irradiation effects of O7+ ions were found to be similar to that of Ni9+ ions. However, in case of irradiation with the ions having higher atomic number, the modifications induced were found to depend on the beam energy and the stopping power of the ion. The extent of modifications induced therefore, seems to have linear energy transfer dependence.