Structural and optical characterization of ZnO doped PC/PS blend nanocomposites

•Blending of polymers alters the properties by many folds.•Nowadays PC/PS blend nanocomposites are the main candidate among the researchers.•XRD, SEM & TEM have been used to characterize nanofiller and blend nanocomposites.•PC/PS-ZnO (3 wt%) shows lowest band gap as compared to other counterpart of series.•These high refractive indexed blend nanocomposites can be used in photonic devices.

PC50%/PS50% polymer blend nanocomposites, undoped and doped with different concentration of ZnO nanoparticles (1, 2, 3 wt%), have been prepared using solution casting method. Structural and optical studies have been performed using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Ultraviolet–Visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis). ZnO nanoparticles have been synthesized by chemical route method. The nanostructure of the ZnO nanoparticles has been ascertained through X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Optical Absorption Spectra has been used to study optical constants of prepared blend nanocomposites. Energy band gap of PC/PS – ZnO blend nanocomposites have been calculated by using Tauc relation. The band gap of the nanocomposites decreases as ZnO wt% increases. Extinction coefficient, refractive index and real & imaginary part of dielectric constants increase with increase in ZnO nanoparticles wt%.