Crystallinity mediated variation in optical and electrical properties of hydrothermally synthesized boehmite (γ-AlOOH) nanoparticles

In this article, nanostructures of boehmite (γ-AlOOH) have been successfully synthesized in a time varied, facile and cost effective hydrothermal route. The samples have been characterized by using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Our samples exhibit remarkably high photoluminescence emission intensity and dielectric constant (3.71 × 10⁶ for BH12 sample) with a nominal dielectric tangent loss. A detailed growth mechanism including the nucleation and self assembly of our nanomaterial has been discussed. Moreover, we are the first to report here the electrical properties of the boehmite nanoparticles. Present investigation also explores temperature dependent dielectric property and ac conductivity of these samples. The role of crystallinity in the optical and electrical enhancement of our samples has been illustrated with proper analytical details. Not only high emission intensity in the blue and green region of the spectrum makes our sample a strong candidate for bio-imaging and bio-sensing applications, but also high dielectric constant makes them desirable for cost-effective energy storing devices, such as supercapacitors and solar cells.