Optical and magnetic properties induced by structural confinement of ternary chalcogenide in AlMCM-41 nanotube

For ternary chalcogenide, Ni-3(SbTe3)(2), with the potential applications of magnetic and opto-magnetic storage media, we investigated the properties induced by the incorporation of ternary chalcogenide into long range ordered mesoporous AlMCM-41. Structural confinement in the mesoporous channel induces the enhanced crystallinity of the ternary chalcogenide and is possibly responsible for the observed weak ferromagnetic transition (similar to 70 K). Such confinement also causes the suppression of phonon coupling to photoexcited carriers in the confined ternary chalcogenide, resulting narrower photoluminescence (PL) band and slower PL lifetime than those of the bulk ternary chalcogenide. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.