Theoretical investigation on near-infrared and visible absorption spectra of nanometallic aluminium with oxide coating in nanoenergetic materials: size and shape effects

The effects of metal core dimension, oxide shell thickness and ellipsoid aspect ratio of Al—AI2 O3 core-shell nanopar-ticles on the near-infrared and visible absorption spectra of nanocomposite Al—Al2O3/nitrocellulose(NC) film are investigated by numerical calculations. Both the size-dependent interband transitions and frequency-dependent free electron damping of the nanometallic aluminium are taken into account in the calculations. Oxidation effect of nanoaluminium is also analysed. It is shown that oxidation may enhance but may also reduce the optical absorption, depending on the excited light energy and initial dimension of nanoparticle. Metal core size and excited light energy dominate the absorption characteristic. The absorption ability of ellipsoidal nanoparticles is larger than that of spheroidal nanopar-ticles and increases by the square index as the aspect ratio increases. These calculations will provide some significant theoretical guidance for the preparation and laser ignition of nanoenergetic materials. (condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties)