Anomalous growth of multi-phased and multi-dimensional Manganese oxide–Metal (Fe, Co and Ni) oxide nanostructures: Synthesis and optical limiting properties

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 611; pp. 82 - 90
• Main Authors: Sridharan, Kishore, Roy, Nivya, Philip, Reji, Park, Tae Joo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier B.V 25-10-2014; Elsevier
• Subjects: Chemical synthesis; Composites; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; Constraining; Exact sciences and technology; Iron; Manganese; Morphology; Nanostructure; Nanostructured oxide materials; Nickel; Nonlinear optical properties; Optical limiters; Optical limiting; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of low-dimensional, mesoscopic, and nanoscale materials and structures; Oxides; Physics; Transmission electron microscopy; Optical limiting; Composites; Nanostructured oxide materials; Nonlinear optical properties; Transmission electron microscopy; Chemical synthesis; Z scan; Manganese oxides; Composite materials; Hydrothermal synthesis; Laser pulse; Nanocomposites; Transition elements Oxides; Growth mechanism; Microstructure
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2014.05.041

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•Manganese oxide–Metal (Fe, Co and Ni) oxide composites are prepared through a single step hydrothermal reaction.•Anomalous growth with multiple-phases and multi-dimensional morphology is noticed.•UV–Vis absorption spectra reveal their broad visible light absorptivity.•Optical limiting properties were studied through open aperture z-scan technique.•NLO studies suggest that these composites are potential optical limiters.
A single step approach toward the hydrothermal synthesis of Manganese oxide–Metal (Fe, Co and Ni) oxide nanocomposites (Mn–O, Fe–MnO, Co–MnO and Ni–MnO) is demonstrated. The composites are prepared using precursors such as potassium permanganate, urea and metal chlorides which are abundant in nature, making this a cost effective and environmentally benignant synthetic route. An anomalous growth was observed in the prepared composites, which had a minimum of two major phases with two different morphologies such as nanowires, nanorods, nanoplates and nanosheets. Growth mechanism of the composite nanostructures is predicted from morphological characterizations. Linear optical studies reveal the broad band visible light absorbance of the composites. Open aperture z-scan experiments are conducted at 532nm using 5ns laser pulses to study the optical limiting properties of the composites. The anomaly observed in the growth, demonstrates the possibility of fabricating multi-phased composites with multi-dimensional nanostructures, which can be employed in the cost effective design and development of optical limiters and sensors based on manganese and other transition metal oxides.