Enhancing and tuning the nonlinear optical response and wavelength-agile strong optical limiting action of n-octylamine modified fluorographenes

Abstract

Fluorographene has been recently shown to be a suitable platform for synthesizing numerous graphene derivatives with desired properties. In that respect, N-octylamine-modified fluorographenes with variable degrees of functionalization are studied and their nonlinear optical properties are assessed using 4 ns pulses. A very strong enhancement of the nonlinear optical response and a very efficient optical limiting action are observed, being strongly dependent on the degree of functionalization of fluorographene. The observed enhanced response is attributed to the increasing number of defects because of the incorporation of N-heteroatoms in the graphitic network upon functionalization with N-octylamine. The present work paves the way for the controlled covalent functionalization of graphene enabling a scalable access to a wide portfolio of graphene derivatives with custom-tailored properties.