Investigating the Structural, Linear/Nonlinear Optical, And Photoluminescence Characteristics of CuO/ZnMn2O4 Nanocomposite for Physicochemical Applications

Abstract The structural, optical, and photoluminescence performance of CuO/ZnMn2O4 nanocomposites was investigated for optical applications. Nanocomposites of xCuO/(1-x)ZnMn2O4 (x; 0 to 0.7) were equipped using the sol-gel route. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction data were collected to examine the structural parameters. Rietveld refinement analysis reveals that the crystallite size decreases upon raising x from 0 to 0.7. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that the distribution of particle sizes demonstrates a relatively broad spectrum within the nanometer range. Raman spectroscopy investigations were applied to examine the structure's vibrations. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the morphology of the formed samples. UV-vis spectrophotometry was applied to collect optical absorbance and reflectance measurements of the samples. Optical energy gap ( E_g) was determined utilizing the Kubelka-Munk method. The refractive index investigations were explored based on seven empirical formulas. The nonlinear optical parameters were explored as a function of CuO contents. The influence of CuO amount on the photoluminescence spectra was investigated. CIE chromaticity diagrams showed that all samples have various degrees of blue-violet colors. A significant improvement was achieved in the linear/nonlinear optical performance of nano ZnMn2O4 by forming CuO/ZnMn2O4 heterojunction, supporting the possible use of CuO/ZnMn2O4 nanocomposites in various optical applications.