Nanocomposite for photonics – nickel pyrophosphate nanocrystals synthesised in silica nanoreactors

Abstract Nanophotonics is one of the most important branches of electronics. The search for and design of novel and more efficient laser-operated materials seems to be fully justified. Therefore, here, we show how to fabricate materials that have an enhanced non-linear optical response using a procedure of synthesis in a silica nanoreactor. We obtained the initial material through the precise functionalisation of SBA-15 silica using nickel phosphonate units that were anchored inside the silica channels by propyl chains, which was then transformed into an optically active nanocomposite after thermal processing. Using thermogravimetry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman vibrational analysis, and N 2 sorption analysis, we analysed the thermal behaviour of the initial functional material. All research that is connected with second- and third-order optical harmonic generation enables the structural changes in these materials and their influence on their optical properties to be explored. Nonlinear optical measurements confirmed our assumption that material that is prepared using silica nanoreactors can have precisely tailored properties, in this case, nonlinear optical properties.