Structural, morphological, compositional and optical studies of plasma polymerized 2-furaldehyde amorphous thin films

Plasma synthesized 2-furaldehyde (PPFDH) amorphous polymer thin films of varying thicknesses were prepared in optimum conditions by a capacitively coupled parallel plate glow discharge reactor at room temperature. The structure, morphology, composition and optical properties of deposited PPFDH thin films have been investigated using X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDS), as well as Ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) absorption spectroscopy. XRD results confirmed the amorphous nature of the films. The smooth and uniform nature of the PPFDH thin films were observed by SEM images. FTIR analyses of monomer FDH and PPFDH thin films show that structural rearrangement has occurred due to the synthesis process taking place in the chemical structure. IR stretching bands obtained from DFT calculations of the optimized structures of monomer and polymer of 2-furaldehyde are in good agreement with the experimental results. UV–vis absorption spectra in transmittance as well as reflectance mode was utilized to compute absorption coefficient, allowed direct and indirect transition energy gaps, band edge sharpness, Urbach energy, steepness parameter, extinction coefficient, and dispersion and oscillator energy. The oscillator strength, moments of optical spectra, refractive index at infinite wavelength, high frequency dielectric constant, average oscilator strength, complex refractive index, dissipation factor, optical conductivity and skin depth were also determined by using measured UV–vis transmittance and reflectance spectra.