CHROMIA (CR2O3) NANOPARTICLES SYNTHESIZED BY USING CRO3 VIA THE FACILE SOLVOTHERMAL PROCESS AND THEIR OPTICAL PROPERTIES

Chromia (Cr2O3) nanoparticles have been successfully synthesized via the facile solvothermal process, by using CrO3 in butanol and propanol as solvents. The functional groups of the samples were tested by the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The as-synthesized nanoparticle sizes are calculated and confirmed to be 34 and 40 nm, by using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The morphology of the samples was observed by the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The measured band gap energies (Eg= 4.04 and 3.66 eV) higher than that of bulk Cr2O3 and increased with decreasing particles size, which indicated that the particles had been successfully synthesized in the nano region, and measured by UltraViolet visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy. The broad visible emission at ~397 nm, in the photoluminescence spectroscopy revealed the high purity and perfect crystallinity of the samples.)