Are organic templates responsible for the optical and magnetic response of MgO nanoparticles?

Herein, we report the optical and magnetic response of magnesium oxide nanoparticles synthesized using magnesium nitrate in a citric acid host. The precursor obtained during the synthesis process was annealed at 350 °C, 400 °C, 500 °C, 700 °C, 900 °C and 1100 °C to obtain magnesium oxide nanoparticles. The rock salt phase of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated by Rietveld analysis of their X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. The temperature-dependent XRD investigation revealed a stable rock salt phase at the measured temperature of 300 °C for these nanoparticles. The nanoparticles exhibited varying crystallite sizes in the range from 6.9 ± 0.2 nm to 29.7 ± 3.9 nm as the annealing temperature increased from 350 °C to 1100 °C. Furthermore, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of regular particles above 500 °C; however, below this temperature, the particles appeared to be embedded in a carbonaceous-like matrix. A variation in color with annealing temperature was visually observed for the nanoparticles, which was associated with the presence of the carbonaceous-like matrix. Near-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (NEXAFS) measurements carried out at the O K-edge also revealed a carbonaceous-like matrix, and these results were supported by C and N K-edge measurements. These measurements indicated the presence of C-O-, CO-, C-N-, and C-H-like bonds attached to MgO crystallites having dominant contribution at low annealing temperatures. This behavior was also reflected by the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic measurements at O 1s, C 1s and N 1s. The Mg K-edge NEXAFS measurements exhibited slight distortion in the Mg ion coordination at lower annealing temperatures, which may be due to the presence of Mg ions in MgO- and MgCO-like co-ordinations, as investigated from Mg 1s spectra of these nanoparticles. Diffuse reflectance measurements showed almost 100% reflectance for the nanoparticles at an annealing temperature of 900 °C and wavelength of 600 nm; the reflectance of these nanoparticles reduced when the annealing temperature was lowered, and it reduced to almost 8% at an annealing temperature of 350 °C. Additionally, O K-edge X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) measurements obtained for these materials showed the onset of magnetism in these C-rich materials.