Abstract
The nano-sized organic and inorganic materials are opening pathways for chemical flexible composites that exhibits high advantage in their optical, electrical and mechanical properties. The present work reports the syntheses of nano-sized Cu(II) complex of 5-azo-phenol-8-hydroxyquinoline (NS Cu(II)-(5AP-8HQ)) thin films on glass and quartz substrates, using static layer by layer soft surface reaction (LBL) technique. The NS Cu(II)-(5AP-8HQ) thin films were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The optical transmittance and optical reflectance were measured at the wavelength range between 200 and 2500 nm. The optical transition was characterized by direct allowed transition with an optical energy gap of about 4.59 eV. The existence of Cu2+ and the phenolate group acted to decrease the valence band and consequently increase the energy gap. Also, the refractive index for NS Cu(II)-(5AP-8HQ) showed a thickness dependence and was found to be 2.6 at wavelength equal to 1000 nm. The nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear optical susceptibility were calculated and the effect of material thickness on the optical constants was also discussed as well.
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•Nano-sized organic-inorganic thin films.•Cu(II) complex of 5-azo-phenol-8-hydroxyquinoline.•Measurement of transmittance and reflectance (200–2500 nm).•Optical transitions were found with optical energy gap = 4.59 eV.•Nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear optical susceptibility.