Nanocomposites of spinel materials: synthesis, structural, optical and photoluminescent characteristics.

The current study aims to produce nanocomposites of spinel materials using the sol-gel and hydrothermal techniques creating a new nanocomposite structure with upgraded characteristics. The impact of CuCo2O4 content (x; 0, 0.10, 0.15 and 0.20) on the structural, linear/ nonlinear optical and photoluminescent features of (1-x)ZnMn2O4/(x)CuCo2O4 (ZMO/CCO) has been investigated. The X-ray measurements gathered by SESAME synchrotron diffractometer were used to investigate the structural properties. Rietveld refinement analysis reveals that ZnMn2O4 (ZMO) possesses a spinel tetragonal phase, while the composed samples have two phases of ZMO and CuCo2O4 (CCO). The structure and chemical bonding were investigated by FTIR and Raman spectrophotometry techniques. UV-vis diffuse reflectance measurements manifested that the absorption of ZMO is highly enhanced upon composing with CCO. The linear/nonlinear optical and photoluminescent (PL) features of the sample have been investigated. The Kubelka-Munk method was applied to determine the optical energy gap. It was found that the optical band gap varies from 1.86 eV (x = 0) to 1.38 eV (x = 0.15). Several empirical models were applied to explore the refractive index behavior. The CIE chromaticity diagram for (1-x)ZnMn2O4/(x)CuCo2O4 nanocomposites has been investigated. Significant enhancement in the linear/nonlinear optical and PL has been achieved, which nominates the produced nanocomposites for new optical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]