Investigating the effect of 532 nm and 1064 nm wavelengths and different liquid media on the qualities of silver nanoparticles yielded through laser ablation

Abstract

The ablation environment's effect upon the very nature of silver nanoparticles produced by a pulsed Nd: YAG laser ablation procedure in a liquid medium was probed experimentally. Accordingly, at first, generation of silver nanoparticles was done in water with no stabilizers or surfactants in two wavelengths of 532 and 1064 nm. The effect of laser wavelength on the SPR properties was then thoroughly investigated by UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy. Also, size distribution was probed through Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) of silver nanoparticles. The optimum wavelength for synthesizing silver nanoparticles was obtained at the wavelength of 532 and the effect of this wavelength was investigated in different liquid media. Eventually, pulses of an Nd: YAG laser of 532 nm wavelength were applied for irradiating the silver target in different environments in water, acetone, cetyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTAC), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP). Characterization of the obtained nanoparticles was done by UV–Vis, Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and DLS. The obtained results showed that the maximum ablation rate occurred in acetone, and the smallest nanoparticles were produced in PVP. The present research study then developed a technique for controlling the size distribution, production efficiency as well as aggregation of silver nanoparticles by modifying the liquid medium's nature.