Investigation on the effect of loading of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles on Graphitic Carbon Nitrides and study their nonlinear optical properties and application as Optical Limiters

The current study focuses on the synthesis of Zinc Oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and their impact on Graphitic Carbon Nitride and its nonlinear optical properties. The prepared samples were synthesized using thermal decomposition method. As the concentration of zinc acetate hydrate increases also the crystalline peaks of ZnO are identified in the XRD pattern. The UV-Visible spectrum of each sample reveals that absorption peaks at 450 nm. The curves exhibit a blue shift as the concentration rises due to the efficient interaction between ZnO and g-C ₃ N ₄ . FTIR reveals the peak at 500 cm ^− 1 as the stretching of the oxygen metal (Zn–O) and triazine rings at 812 cm ^− 1 . The FESEM, surface morphology of the samples confirmed the nanostructures. At a wavelength of around 532 nm, the Z-scan approach was used to analyze the nonlinear optical properties, including the nonlinear index of refraction (n ₂ ), nonlinear absorption coefficient (β), and third-order nonlinear susceptibility\(\:\:\left({\chi\:}^{3}\right)\). The value of \(\:{\chi\:}^{3}\) varies from \(\:2.71\times\:{10}^{-7}\) e.s.u. to \(\:{2.46\times\:10}^{-6}\) e.s.u. for the synthesized nanostructures. The limiting threshold decreased from 5.078 kJ/cm ² to 2.178 kJ/cm ² as the weight percentage of ZnO increased. Due to their low limiting threshold value, these optoelectronic materials show great potential for optical sensors.