Nanoparticles alloying in liquids: Laser-ablation-generated Ag or Pd nanoparticles and laser irradiation-induced AgPd nanoparticle alloying

International audienceLaser irradiation of a mixture of single element micro/nanomaterials may lead to their alloying and fabrication of multielement structures. In addition to the laser induced alloying of particulates in the form of micro/nanopowders in ambient atmosphere which forms the basis of the field of additive manufacturing technology another interesting problem is the laser induced alloying of a mixture of single element nanoparticles in liquids since this process may lead to the direct fabrication of alloyed nanoparticles colloidal solutions. In this work Ag and Pd bare, surface ligand-free nanoparticles in solution were prepared by laser ablation of the corresponding bulk target materials separately in water, the two solutions were mixed and the mixed solution was laser irradiated for different time durations in order to investigate the laser induced nanoparticles alloying in liquid. Nanoparticles alloying and formation of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles takes place with the decrease of the intensity of the surface plasmon resonance peak of the Ag nanoparticles (at ~405 nm) with the irradiation time while the low wavelength interband absorption peaks of either Ag or Pd nanoparticles remain unaffected by the irradiation for times even as long as 30 mins. The alloyed nanoparticles have lattice constants with values between those of the pure metals which indicates that they consist of Ag and Pd in approximately 1:1 ratio similar to the atomic composition of the starting mixed nanoparticles solution. Formation of nanoparticle networks consisting of bimetallic alloyed nanoparticles and nanoparticles which remain as single elements even after the end of the irradiation, joining together, are also formed. The binding energies of the 3d core electrons of both Ag and Pd nanoparticles shift to lower energies with the irradiation time also a typical characteristic of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles

Nanoparticles alloying in liquids: Laser-ablation-generated Ag or Pd nanoparticles and laser irradiation-induced AgPd nanoparticle alloying

International audienceLaser irradiation of a mixture of single-element micro/nanomaterials may lead to their alloying and fabrication of multi-element structures. In addition to the laser induced alloying of particulates in the form of micro/nanopowders in ambient atmosphere (which forms the basis of the field of additive manufacturing technology), another interesting problem is the laser-induced alloying of a mixture of single-element nanoparticles in liquids since this process may lead to the direct fabrication of alloyed-nanoparticle colloidal solutions. In this work, bare-surface ligand-free Ag and Pd nanoparticles in solution were prepared by laser ablation of the corresponding bulk target materials, separately in water. The two solutions were mixed and the mixed solution was laser irradiated for different time durations in order to investigate the laser-induced nanoparticles alloying in liquid. Nanoparticles alloying and the formation of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles takes place with a decrease of the intensity of the surface-plasmon resonance peak of the Ag nanoparticles (at ~405 nm) with the irradiation time while the low wavelength interband absorption peaks of either Ag or Pd nanoparticles remain unaffected by the irradiation for a time duration even as long as 30 min. The nanoalloys have lattice constants with values between those of the pure metals, which indicates that they consist of Ag and Pd in an approximately 1:1 ratio similar to the atomic composition of the starting mixed-nanoparticle solution. Formation of nanoparticle networks consisting of bimetallic alloyed nanoparticles and nanoparticles that remain as single elements (even after the end of the irradiation), joining together, are also formed. The binding energies of the 3d core electrons of both Ag and Pd nanoparticles shift to lower energies with the irradiation time, which is also a typical characteristic of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles. The mechanisms of nanoparticles alloying and network formation are also discussed

Femtosecond laser ablation of a bulk graphite target in water for polyyne and nanomaterial synthesis

Laser ablation of a bulk graphite target in water using femtosecond laser pulses (pulse width ≤ 190 fs) was performed to investigate the synthesis of polyynes and carbon-based nanomaterials and compare them with the well-studied cases of longer pulse (picosecond or nanosecond) ablations. The laser ablation products were characterized using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy, whereas the induced plasma plumes were characterized using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Carbon-based nanomaterials and short-chain polyynes (C6H2 and C8H2) are formed in the solutions as proven by their characteristic absorption band at ~262 nm and peaks in the region of 190–240 nm as well as at around 2100 cm−1 in the Raman spectra, respectively. Polyynes (C8H2) are present in the solutions that are produced under an ablation that is carried out in two intervals with a short pause between them, which is contrary to a continuous ablation that is performed for the same total time duration. The ablation products have a hexagonal graphite crystal structure. The carbon-based nanomaterials consist of large non-spherical and small spherical nanoparticles as well as sheet-like structures. The results of the study were compared with previous studies and discussed based on those studies

Oxide or carbide nanoparticles synthesized by laser ablation of a bulk Hf target in liquids and their structural, optical, and dielectric properties

International audienceLaser ablation of a bulk Hf target in deionized (DI) water, ethanol, or toluene was carried out for the production of nanoparticles’ colloidal solutions. Due to the interaction of the ablation plasma plume species with the species which are produced by the liquid decomposition at the plume-liquid interface, hafnia (HfO2) nanoparticles are synthesized in DI water, hafnium carbide (HfC) nanoparticles in toluene, and a mixture of these in ethanol. The hafnia nanoparticles are in the monoclinic low temperature phase and in the tetragonal and fcc high temperature phases. Their size distribution follows log-normal function with a median diameter in the range of 4.3–5.3 nm. Nanoparticles synthesized in DI water have band gaps of 5.6 and 5.4 eV, in ethanol 5.72 and 5.65 eV (using low and high pulse energy), and in toluene 3 eV. The values for the relative permittivity in the range of 7.74–8.90 were measured for hafnia nanoparticles’ thin films deposited on substrates by drop-casting (self-assembled layers) in parallel plate capacitor structures

ns or fs pulsed laser ablation of a bulk InSb target in liquids for nanoparticles synthesis

International audienceLaser ablation of bulk target materials in liquids has been established as an alternative method for the synthesis of nanoparticles colloidal solutions mainly due to the fact that the synthesized nanoparticles have bare, ligand-free surfaces since no chemical precursors are used for their synthesis. InSb is a narrow band gap semiconductor which has the highest carrier mobility of any known semiconductor and nanoparticles of this material are useful in optoelectronic device fabrication. In this paper a bulk InSb target was ablated in deionized (DI) water or ethanol using a nanosecond (20ns) or a femtosecond (90fs) pulsed laser source, for nanoparticles synthesis. In all four cases the largest percentage of the nanoparticles are of InSb in the zincblende crystal structure with fcc lattice. Oxides of either In or Sb are also formed in the nanoparticles ensembles in the case of ns or fs ablation, respectively. Formation of an oxide of either element from the two elements of the binary bulk alloy is explained based on the difference in the ablation mechanism of the material in the case of ns or fs pulsed laser irradiation in which the slow or fast deposition of energy into the material results to mainly melting or vaporization, respectively under the present conditions of ablation, in combination with the lower melting point but higher vaporization enthalpy of In as compared to Sb. InSb in the metastable phase with orthorhombic lattice is also formed in the nanoparticles ensembles in the case of fs ablation in DI water (as well as oxide of InSb) which indicates that the synthesized nanoparticles exhibit polymorphism controlled by the type of the laser source used for their synthesis. The nanoparticles exhibit absorption which is observed to be extended in the infrared region of the spectrum