An array of water-soluble polymer blends composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) have been synthesized by the solution casting technique. The prepared blends were tested using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical, optical, and dielectric measurements. According to the XRD studies, PEG has a significant plasticizing impact on PVA, as evidenced by the drop in crystallinity (X_c) values from 31.24 to 25.45%. The thermal study reveals the reduction in the glass transition temperature T_g from 89.2 to 60.6 °C. The outcomes showed that adding PEG affects the mechanical characteristics of PVA/PEG blends, and the ideal blend was one with 25 wt% of PEG loading, where the value of the percentage elongation at break (78%), Toughness (0.44) and surface energy (0.076) reached the highest values at this blend. Meanwhile, Young's modulus declined from 20.34 MPa for pure PVA to 7.07 MPa at 25 wt% PEG. According to the optical studies, the absorption edge shifted from 5.24 to 4.26 eV while the optical band gap ( $${{E}_{g}}^{ind}$$E g ind , $${{E}_{g}}^{d}$$E g d ) decreased from 4.81, 5.46 eV (pure PVA) to 3.77, 5.04 eV (PVA/PEG30%) respectively, which indicates that forming charge transfer complexes between PVA and PEG polymer. The E_U values enhanced from 0.238 to 1.296 eV and the refractive index improved from 1.38 to 2.97 when PEG content increased. The dielectric and conduction properties were studied from 100 Hz to 1 MHz. It was demonstrated that the dielectric constant ( $${\varepsilon }{\prime}$$ε ′ ) and dielectric loss ( $${\varepsilon }{\prime}{\prime}$$ε ′ ′ ) are highly frequency-dependent. In addition to that, $$({\varepsilon }{\prime}, {\varepsilon }{\prime}{\prime})$$( ε ′ , ε ′ ′ ) values improved from (30, 2) for PVA to (44.46 and 5.39) for PVA/30 wt% PEG blend at 100 Hz, respectively. At the same time, the AC electrical conductivity is improved by increasing the PEG content. These results will likely have far-reaching consequences across a variety of fields, the possible applications due to the increased flexibility of PVA film are flexible packaging, biomedical materials, and other industries that need adaptive and flexible materials. Furthermore, the improved refractive index of the PVA/PEG combination demonstrates its appropriateness for certain applications such as optoelectronic equipment, waveguides, anti-reflective coats, and LEDs. This blend has uses in charge storage devices, such as embedded capacitors due to the enhancement of dielectric constant. Finally, one can say that the research samples have multifunctional applications.

In this present work, a PVA/PVP-blend polymer was doped with various concentrations of neodymium oxide (PB-Nd⁺³) composite films using the solution casting technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used to investigate the composite structure and proved the semi-crystallinity of the pure PVA/PVP polymeric sample. Furthermore, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) analysis, a chemical-structure tool, illustrated a significant interaction of PB-Nd⁺³ elements in the polymeric blends. The transmittance data reached 88% for the host PVA/PVP blend matrix, while the absorption increased with the high dopant quantities of PB-Nd⁺³. The absorption spectrum fitting (ASF) and Tauc’s models optically estimated the direct and indirect energy bandgaps, where the addition of PB-Nd⁺³ concentrations resulted in a drop in the energy bandgap values. A remarkably higher quantity of Urbach energy for the investigated composite films was observed with the increase in the PB-Nd⁺³ contents. Moreover, seven theoretical equations were utilized, in this current research, to indicate the correlation between the refractive index and the energy bandgap. The indirect bandgaps for the proposed composites were evaluated to be in the range of 5.6 eV to 4.82 eV; in addition, the direct energy gaps decreased from 6.09 eV to 5.83 eV as the dopant ratios increased. The nonlinear optical parameters were influenced by adding PB-Nd⁺³, which tended to increase the values. The PB-Nd⁺³ composite films enhanced the optical limiting effects and offered a cut-off laser in the visible region. The real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity of the blend polymer embedded in PB-Nd⁺³ increased in the low-frequency region. The AC conductivity and nonlinear I-V characteristics were augmented with the doping level of PB-Nd⁺³ contents in the blended PVA/PVP polymer. The outstanding findings regarding the structural, electrical, optical, and dielectric performance of the proposed materials show that the new PB-Nd⁺³-doped PVA/PVP composite polymeric films are applicable in optoelectronics, cut-off lasers, and electrical devices.

The aqueous solution cast method was used to create the biodegradable polymer nanocomposite (PNC) films from a blend of poly (vinyl alcohol) PVA and poly (vinyl pyrrolidone) PVP (70/30 wt %) and Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles (NPs). These PNC films were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy SEM, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR, and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. XRD and FTIR results indicate that Fe^+ 3 NPs interact with the host polymer. Optical, electrical, mechanical, and radiation shielding measurements were performed on the PNC films. From the optical measurements, the indirect optical band gap drops from 4.86 eV for the pure blend to 4.26 eV at the greatest NPs concentration. Optical limiting characterization shows that the output power of He-Ne and solid-state green laser beams is reduced from 22.98 to 3.6 mW and 6.59 to 1.4 mW, respectively, when the Fe₂O₃ NPs content in the blend matrix is increased to 6 wt %. The NGCal software was utilized to calculate nuclear radiation shielding properties. The findings demonstrated that when the concentration of Fe₂O₃ rose, the PNC films half-value layer and mean free path decreased. Mechanical measurements demonstrate that increasing the Fe₂O₃ content significantly improves nanocomposite films’ yield and tensile strength. Tensile strength is measured at 27.03 MPa for the composite film containing 6 wt % Fe₂O₃, which is significantly higher than the 8.66 MPa of the pure (PVA-PVP) film. Compared to the other samples under examination, the 6 wt % Fe₂O₃ sample yielded the best results (based on the analyzed optical, electrical, mechanical, and radiation shielding properties).