New Insights into the Nature of the Band Gap of CuGeO3 Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Electronic Structure, and Optical and Photocatalytic Properties

We report, for the first time, new insights into the nature of the band gap of CuGeO₃ (CGO) nanocrystals synthesized from a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method in the presence of citrate. To the best of our knowledge, this synthetic approach has the shortest reaction time and it works at the lowest temperatures reported in the literature for the preparation of these materials. The influence of the surfactant on the structural, electronic, optical, and photocatalytic properties of CGO nanocrystals is discussed by a combination of experimental and theoretical approaches, and that results elucidates the nature of the band gap of synthetized CGO nanocrystals. We believe that this particular strategy is one of the most critical parameters for the development of innovative applications and that result could shed some light on the emerging material design with entirely new properties.