Advantages of the Surface Structuration of KBr Materials for Spectrometry and Sensors

• Main Authors: Natalia Vladimirovna Kamanina, Svetlana Vladimirovna Likhomanova, Pavel Viktorovich Kuzhakov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-09-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: potassium bromide; carbon nanotubes; laser-oriented deposition method; surface structuration; spectra; mechanical and wetting properties
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/18/9/3013

A potassium bromide (KBr) material, which has been widely used as the key element in Fourier spectrometers and as the output window of the IR-lasers, was studied via applying carbon nanotubes in order to modify the potassium bromide surface. The laser-oriented deposition method was used to place the carbon nanotubes at the matrix material surface in the vertical position at different electric fields varying from 100 to 600 V × cm−1. The main idea of the improvement of the spectral properties of the potassium bromide structure is connected with the fact that the refractive index of the carbon nanotubes is substantially less than the refractive index of the studied material, and the small diameter of the carbon nanotubes allows one to embed these nano-objects in the voids of the lattice of the model matrix systems. Moreover, the mechanical characteristics and wetting features of potassium bromide structures have been investigated under the condition mentioned above. Analytical and quantum-chemical simulations have supported the experimental results.