Optical and structural properties of H-BN@Gd2O3 nanoflake prepared by laser–induced ablation in liquid

Abstract In this paper, we reported the synthesis of hexagonal BN, Gd 2 O 3 nanoparticles, and BN@Gd 2 O 3 hybrid nanocomposites by novel laser ablation in liquid. Several analytical techniques including x-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectroscopy, Fluorescence spectroscopy, Field Emission Scanning electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) with Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), High-resolution transmission electron microscope (HR-TEM), and map imaging were used to investigate the structural and optical properties of synthesized nanoparticles. According to FE-SEM and TEM results, FE-SEM images show the formation of h-BN NPs, sheet-like, and spherical nanoparticles, hexagonal-type nanoflake of Gd 2 O 3 , and needle-like shapes. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images confirm that the average diameter of all samples is ∼40 nm. However, the length of the nanorods is found to vary from 50 nm to 240 nm. The optical properties studies show that the optical energy gap of h-BN, Gd 2 O 3 , and h-BN@Gd 2 O 3 is in the range of (4.5–5.5) eV.