Comparative study on Cu, Al and Cu-Al alloy nanoparticles synthesized through underwater laser ablation technique

Abstract

In this work, we have done a comparative study on Cu, Al and Cu-Al alloy nanoparticles synthesized through underwater pulsed laser ablation technique. Second harmonic of Nd: YAG nanosecond pulsed laser with 50 J/cm2 fluence was used to ablate the Cu (99.99%), Al (99.99%) and Cu-45% Al alloy targets. However, the laser synthesis of Cu-Al alloy nanoparticles is not yet investigated best of our knowledge. Thus, it is the first time we have synthesized alloy nanoparticles through underwater laser ablation in a chemical free environment. Moreover, we have used abundant earth metals to synthesize the nanoparticles. The particles morphology, shape and size were analysed through SEM and DLS analysis where we have observed that the average size of alloy nanoparticle was much smaller than its monometallic counterparts. The crystallinity and elemental analysis of synthesized nanoparticles were studied through XRD and EDS respectively. The alloy formation of nanoparticles was evident from such structural investigations. Further a comparative study on optical properties of alloy and monometallic particles were investigated through UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Alloy particle shows a remarkable improvement in optical absorption in comparison to its parent materials.