Fabrication, structural, morphological, and optical features of Mn2O3 polyhedron nano-rods and Mn2O3/reduced graphene oxide hybrid nanocomposites

Abstract

Mn2O3 and Mn2O3/reduced graphene oxide (rGO) composites were prepared by the hydrothermal and sonochemical method, respectively. The prepared samples were characterized via X-ray diffraction, Transmission electron microscope, Fourier transform infra-red, and Raman spectroscopy. Di-Manganese tri oxide morphology appeared new morphology as polyhedron prism nano-rods as to the best of our knowledge, no work has described before for Mn2O3 nanoparticles (NPs). The Raman vibrational band at 694 cm−1 is related to the Mn-O bond of trivalent manganese ions (Mn3+). XRD and TEM analysis confirmed the decrease of particle sizes with the insertion of rGO sheet to the matrix. The optical properties were measured by UV–visible spectrometer. The obtained data from the absorption spectra was used to investigate the optical parameters. The optical band gap was tuned to a lower value of about 1.57 eV and the refractive index increased from 4.031 for Mn2O3 to 4.429 for Mn2O3/rGO. The obtained results revealed that the optical and morphological structure of Mn2O3 were enhanced via the addition of rGO sheets to the matrix which make it useful in optoelectronic applications.