Thermal- and Sun-Promoted Generation of Silver Nanoparticles Embedded into Poly(vinyl alcohol) Films

Nanocomposites based on poly(vinyl alcohol) and silver nanoparticles were efficiently prepared by sun- and thermal-promoted reduction processes. Uniaxial drawing of the Ag/PVA nanocomposites favoured the anisotropic distribution of silver particles, providing oriented films with polarisation-dependent tunable optical properties. These dichroic properties were more pronounced for nanocomposites produced by sun exposition, which provided more compact and interacting metal clusters. The results obtained suggest the nanocomposite films could find potential applications as colour polarising filters, radiation responsive polymeric objects and smart flexible films in packaging applications.