Enhanced structural, optical, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties by a noval approach (nanoparticle doping) on ferroelectric triglycine sulphate single crystal

Abstract

The pristine and AgNP-doped TGS crystals are studied using powder X-ray diffraction, density measurements, solubility studies, UV–Vis analysis, photoluminescence spectroscopic analysis, thermal gravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Vicker’s hardness measurements, I–V and impedance measurements. From the XRD studies, TGS crystal formation is confirmed and by further analyzing X-ray diffraction data it is noticed that the incorporation of nanoparticles induce stress in the lattice of TGS crystal, which, in turn, lead to shift in peak positions. Crystal solubility and density values are increased after doping process. From the emission spectrum it is evident that emission intensity increases as the doping concentration increased. The melting point and mechanical hardness of the crystals also showed improvement after AgNP doping. Band gap calculated by Tauc’s relation is found to decrease with increase in doping concentration. Further, electrical studies demonstrated that crystal conductivity is improved as the doping concentration increases. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.