Novel Strategy of Treating 2-Nitrobenzoic Acid Crystals with Energetic N2 Neutrals Using Cold Plasma

The organic adduct compounds of 2-nitrobenzoic acid crystals were grown as optically transparent crystals using the conventional slow evaporation solution technique. The crystals were powdered and irradiated with cold plasma. Cell parameter analysis confirmed the formation of a new crystalline material that resides in the triclinic P crystal system with space group P1. Fourier transform infrared spectra were recorded using the KBr pellet technique to determine the vibrational functional groups in the compound. Powder X-ray diffraction analysis was used to reveal the crystalline orientation of the powdered samples of the grown crystals. The obtained full width at half maximum for the (001) plane in the XRD spectrum indicates the excellent crystalline quality of the 2-nitrobenzoic acid crystals. The recorded UV–Vis absorption spectra reveal that the grown powdered crystal samples possess cut-off edges wavelengths at 428 and 428 nm and 353 and 354 nm for pure and plasma-treated samples, respectively. The optical energy bandgaps were found to be 2.0, 2.25, 4.06, and 4.02 eV for the pure and plasma-treated samples, respectively. The photoluminescence spectra show the blue emissions of the crystal. The FE-SEM images show the morphological modifications in which rounded platelets appear on the surfaces of the treated crystals.