Neat PMMA/PVC blend and the blend embedded with different
contents of CoCl2 were prepared and studied using XRD, UV–Vis,
FT-IR, TGA and DSC techniques. The degree of crystallinity of the
prepared samples was measured using area under the peaks. Values
of the area decrease as CoCl2 increases, indicating that CoCl2
may influence crystallinity and produce more defects in the polymeric
matrices. In the UV–Vis spectra, the absorption band at
about 287 nm was attributed to the spin tetrahedral structure of
3d7 configuration of Co2+. This band was ascribed to the optical
transmission due to spin orbit coupling effects. The absorption
band was increased and shifts with an increase of CoCl2 content
due to the presence of metal-ions indicating that the complexation
between PMMA/PVC blend and Co+2 occurs. The decrease in optical
gap energy indicates that a charge transfer complex arose between
the polymer blend and Co2+ and was due to the formation of
defects in the polymeric matrices. These defects produce the localized
states in the optical band gap. IR analysis show characteristic
absorption bands for both PMMA and PVC. This may imply that
there is an interaction between PMMA and PVC. Some shift of IR
bands indicates that an interaction occurred between the PMMA/
PVC and CoCl2. TGA thermograms for all samples have the same
behavior with three steps of decomposition of samples being
observed. It can be concluded that increasing the addition of CoCl2
to the blend shows high order, low thermal motion and more thermal
stability compared to the pure blend due to random scission of
the macromolecule chain in the polymeric matrices predominating
and a lower activation energy