Antimonene Prepared by Laser Irradiation Applied for Nonlinear Optical Limiting

Antimonene, a novel two-dimension (2D) Group-VA material, shows excellent electrical and optical properties. In this work, antimonene nanosheets or nanoparticles were obtained by laser irradiating antimony powder in isopropanol solution and different morphology of antimonene were obtained by adjusting different laser irradiation parameters, including irradiation time and irradiation energy. The nonlinear absorption properties of antimonene with different morphologies under 532 nm nanosecond laser were studied by Z-scan technology. It was found that the reverse-saturation absorption ability was the strongest when the morphology of the sample was nanosheets, which was very suitable for optical limiting. In addition, due to the limitation of the application of the sample in the form of solution, we added it into organosilicon, and obtained the solid antimonene-organosilicon composite with optical limiting function. The results showed that antimonene nanosheets with best optical limiting ability can be prepared by adjusting the laser irradiation parameters, and the products are successfully added into solid matrix to enhance its practicability in protecting people’s eyes and optical equipment from damage caused by high power laser. Graphic Abstract