Probing Optical Nonlinearities of Unconventional Glass Nanocomposites Made of Ionic Liquid Crystals and Bimetallic Nanoparticles.

Valentyn Rudenko,Gertruda Klimusheva,Yuriy Garbovskiy,Galina Yaremchuk,Dmytro Zhulai,Tatyana Mirnaya,Svitlana Bugaychuk,Anatolii Tolochko

doi:10.3390/nano12060924

Abstract

In this paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of unconventional nanocomposites made of bimetallic nanoparticles dispersed in a liquid crystal glass. Core-shell bimetallic nanoparticles (Ag/Au or Au/Ag) and Ag-Au bimetallic nanoalloys are synthesized using cadmium alkanoate glass-forming liquid crystals as nanoreactors. Optical spectra of the produced glassy nanocomposites exhibit a distinctive absorption peak due to a surface plasmon resonance. In addition, these unusual materials demonstrate a strong nonlinear–optical response probed by means of the Z-scan technique. The use of near-infrared (1064 nm) and visible (532 nm) nanosecond laser pulses reveal a variety of nonlinear–optical mechanisms that depend on the composition of the studied nanocomposites. Our results indicate that metal alkanoate-based glass-forming ionic liquid crystals with embedded plasmonic nanoparticles are promising, yet they are overlooked photonic nanomaterials suitable for optical and nonlinear-optical applications.

Highlights

Received: 16 February 2022The design and production of nanotechnology products relies on the synthesis and characterization of new nanomaterials [1] and references therein
We propose the use of metal alkanoate-based mesomorphic materials to achieve this goal
Embedding light-absorbing nanoparticles in transparent glass materials is a powerful approach for the creation of stable nanodispersions suitable for the development of commercial products

Summary

Introduction

The design and production of nanotechnology products relies on the synthesis and characterization of new nanomaterials [1] and references therein. Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 924 fact enabled the use of metal alkanoate-based liquid crystal nanoreactors for the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) of different origins. The unique properties of metal-alkanoates allow the production of nanocomposites made of anisotropic liquid crystal glass with embedded nanoparticles that are chemically synthesized in the liquid crystal phase of the same metal alkanoate template. Simultaneous with the synthesis of new nanocomposites made of metal alkanoates and nanoparticles, systematic studies of their structural, optical, photovoltaic and nonlinear optical properties were carried out [11–16]. Previous papers [11–16] have reported the technology and nonlinear-optical properties of metal-alkanoate-based glass containing silver and gold nanoparticles. This paper is a logical continuation of previous papers [11–16], with the goal of studying bimetallic plasmonic nanoparticles synthesized and dispersed in metal-alkanoate-based mesomorphic hosts/templates. The mechanisms of nonlinear optical effects in nanocomposites of cadmium octanoate with bimetallic NPs are discussed

Materials Preparation

Z-scan profiles transmittancemeasured measured

Conclusions