Annihilation characteristics of positrons in a polymer containing silver nanoparticles

Composites of silver particles of diameters in the range 16.4–33.3 nm and polyacrylamide were prepared by a chemical method. Positron lifetime and Doppler broadening measurements of these samples were carried out. The positron lifetime spectra of all the samples could be decomposed into three components having lifetimes around 200, 500, and 1800 ps. These are believed to arise due to vacancy clusters on the grain surfaces, the open spaces between the grain surface and the surrounding polymer layer and the annihilation of orthopositronium at the free-volume defects, respectively. The lifetime of positrons trapped at the grain surface defects and the grain-polymer interface is found to decrease as the grain size is increased. Doppler broadening measurements were carried out from 13 K to 300 K on a silver-polyacrylamide nanocomposite containing silver particles of diameters in the range 2–20 nm. The line-shape parameter S is decomposed by a mixture rule to obtain the contribution of electrons from the nanoparticles. This shows a sharp increase at around 80 K that is adduced as evidence for the splitting of the electron energy levels in the nanosized silver particles leading to a semiconductorlike behavior. @S0163-1829~98!03102-6#