Spectroscopic and nonlinear photophysical characterization of organic octupolar-compounds supported by anodic-alumina nanotube-arrays

Highlights: → Preparation of organic-inorganic nanostructured hybrid materials. → Insertion of octupolar compounds in alumina nanotube arrays. → Linear and nonlinear photophysical characterization of solid-state hybrid structures. → Fabrication of photonic materials. - Abstract: Amorphous anodic alumina membranes (AAM) comprising highly ordered nanometric porous arrays (porous anodic aluminas: PAA) with 1D-nanotube dimensions of ∼75 nm in diameter and 45 microns in depth were successfully prepared and used as nanostructured host networks for different functionalized octupolar chromophores (named here Oct-(n)). Atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies performed on the developed hybrid systems confirmed a homogeneous insertion of these organic molecules into the PAA nanotube-arrays. Samples with high structural quality were selected for several photophysical characterizations: Comprehensive X-ray diffraction (XRD) and optical spectroscopic characterizations performed according to UV-vis absorption, photoluminescent (PL) and Raman measurements revealed the structural and optical performance of these molecules within the PAA-confinement. Since the implemented optical chromophores were specifically functionalized for nonlinear optical (NLO) applications, the obtained Oct-(n)/PAA-based amorphous hybrids were also characterized according to cubic NLO-techniques such as third harmonic generation (THG) and the Z-Scan method. PAA-confined octupolar chromophores have shown interesting linear and NLO optical properties which have not yet been intensively investigated in bulk hybrid systems; hence, the obtained hybrid nanostructures represent a promising field of investigation in the route to functional octupolar-based materials, where different self-assembled molecular structures may be formed, giving rise to enhanced linear and NLO-properties.