Enhanced optical nonlinearity of Borophene/TiO2 nanoparticles nanocomposites using femtosecond laser excitation
摘要
Nonlinear optical materials are of great interest for applications in photonics, optoelectronics, and advanced nonlinear optical devices. In this work, we synthesized Borophene/TiO2 nanoparticle nanocomposites with varying Borophene concentrations and systematically investigated their nonlinear optical response. TEM, EDX, XRD, FTIR, and UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy confirmed the successful synthesis of the nanocomposites. The optical bandgap progressively decreases from 3.50 eV to 2.90 eV with increasing Borophene loading, indicating enhanced light absorption ability of nanocomposites. Nonlinear optical properties were studied through the Z-scan technique using a femtosecond laser centered at 800 nm wavelength in two modes: Open and close aperture configurations. The open-aperture measurements reveal reverse saturation absorption behavior of the nanocomposites, which is further supported by TRFS analysis. The nonlinear absorption coefficient (β) increases from 0.188 × 10⁻12 cm/W for pristine TiO2 nanoparticles to 0.546 × 10− 12 cm/W at 10 wt% Borophene concentration. Closed-aperture Z-scan results show a negative nonlinear refractive index (n2), confirming self-defocusing behavior of nanocomposites, with the magnitude rising from 0.691 × 10⁻17 cm²/W for TiO2 nanoparticles to 1.569 × 10− 17 cm²/W for the highest Borophene loading. Correspondingly, the third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ(3)) and figure of merit of the nanocomposites also increase with Borophene concentration, with χ(3) improving from 8.07 × 10− 16 esu for pristine TiO2 nanoparticles to 23.87 × 10− 16 esu for 10 wt% Borophene. The findings show that the Borophene/TiO2 nanoparticles nanocomposites have enhanced nonlinear optical response than pristine materials highlighting the strong potential of the nanocomposites for advanced optoelectronic and nonlinear optical applications.