Bismuth and Gold Nanoparticles Prepared by Laser Ablation in Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

The aim of this work is to report on the preparation of bismuth and gold nanoparticles ablating the corresponding target immersed in different liquid solutions: water and ethanol. The effect of the liquid environment and laser fluence used for ablation on the size and size distribution of the nanoparticles synthesized was investigated. The nanoparticle size was measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In general terms, for both metals, the results obtained reveal smaller sizes as low as approximately 2 nm. The bismuth nanoparticles, as deposited, are highly crystalline in nature and, depending on the conditions of preparation, either Bi or Bi2O3 nanoparticles are obtained in both liquids. UV-Vis measurements show the typical band absorption characteristic of spherical particles of nanometric size. It is worth mentioning that the gold colloids obtained using water are very stable.