Synthesis, characterization, and nonlinear optical properties of copper (II) ligand Schiff base complexes derived from 3-Nitrobenzohydrazide and benzyl

Abstract A new series of Cu (II) complexes were prepared using Schiff base ligand of N–N′-(1,2-diphenyl ethane-1,2-diylidene)bis(3-Nitrobenzohydrazide). The prepared ligand and Cu (II) complex were characterized using various physicochemical investigations such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR), $${}^{13}C$$ 13 C Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), $${}^{1}H$$ 1 H NMR, Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy (DRS), Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), and Z-Scan technique (Nonlinear optical (NLO) properties). In addition, the prepared samples have been examined for their NLO characteristics with the help of the Density Functional Theory calculations which proved that the Cu (II) Complex is more polarized than Ligand. According to XRD and FESEM results, the nanocrystalline nature of the samples is confirmed. The metal-oxide bond assigned in the functional studies by FTIR. Magnetic studies demonstrate weak ferromagnetic and paramagnetic nature for Cu (II) complex and diamagnetic nature for the ligand, respectively. DRS spectrum exhibited higher reflectance for Cu (II) than the ligand. The band gap energies of the synthesized samples were estimated by employing the Tauc relation and Kubelka–Munk theory on reflectance data and found to be 2.89 eV and 2.67 eV for Cu (II) complex and ligand, respectively. Extinction coefficient and refractive index values were calculated using the Kramers–Kronig method. The z-scan technique was applied to estimate the NLO properties by a 532 nm Nd:YAG laser