Nonlinear optical and optical limiting properties of fullerene, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, graphene and their derivatives with oxygen-containing functional groups

Nonlinear optical properties (NLO) and optical limiting effect of fullerene (C60), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs), reduced graphene oxide (RGO) and their oxygenated derivatives were investigated by open-aperture Z-scan technique with nanosecond pulses at 532 nm. C60 functionalized by oxygen-containing functional groups exhibits weaker NLO properties than that of pristine C60. Graphene oxide (GO) with many oxygen-containing functional groups also shows weaker NLO properties than that of RGO. That can be attributed to the disruption of conjugative structures of C60 and graphene by oxygen-containing functional groups. However, MWNTs and their oxygenated derivatives exhibit comparable NLO properties due to the small weight ratio of these oxygen-containing groups. To investigate the correlation between structures and NLO response for these carbon nanomaterials with different dimensions, nonlinear scattered signal spectra versus input fluence were also measured.