जर्नल ऑफ़ फिजिकल केमिस्ट्री एंड बायोफिज़िक्स
खुला एक्सेस

अमूर्त

Enhanced Refractive Index Sensing Performance Using Hydrothermally Prepared Tricomposite Nanostructure of Ta2O5:Si:Graphite

Farhan Ahmad, Shafaque Rahman, Rana Tabassum*, Aurangzeb Khurram Hafiz

We describe a tricomposite nanostructure based method to measure the trace amount of refractive index in aqueous solutions. It utilizes tantalum (v) oxide, silicon and graphite to fabricate the tricomposite nanostructures. The tricomposite nanostructures were prepared using hydrothermal method where the concentration of (x) of Si in Ta₂O₅ was varied while the concentration of graphite was kept constant. The concentration of Si in Ta₂O₅ was measured by Maxwell-Garnett model using volume filling factor ‘f’ (0 ≤ f ≤ 1) of Si in Ta₂O₅. The fabricated Ta₂O₅:Si:Graphite tricomposite nanostructures were characterized by SEM, XRD, UV-Vis, PL, FTIR characterization techniques. Then aqueous solution of varying refractive indices were prepared in the range 1.33-1.39 in the already prepared tricomposite nanoflower structure solution. The refractive index measurement were probed by measuring absorption spectra corresponding to each tricomposite nanostructures. The performance of the sensor was explored in terms of shift in peak absorption spectra, sensitivity and more over the limit of detection. The sensor shows sensitivity and limit of detection of (156-260) nm/RIU and 5.14 x 10^-3 RIU respectively. A linear declining of sensitivity was observed within the refractive index range. The sensor possesses a distinguished feature of using tricomposite nanoflower structure which is an efficient method for refractive index measurement.