Irradiation induced dissolution of Cu and growth of Ag nanoclusters in Cu/Ag ion-exchanged soda-lime glass

Abstract

Complex metal nanoclusters of Cu/Ag are formed in a soda-lime glass matrix by sequential copper and silver ion-exchange followed by ion irradiation. Optical absorption measurements showed signature of copper clusters alone in the Cu/Ag ion-exchanged sample. Irradiation of the ion-exchanged sample with He + ions of energy 100 keV of different fluences resulted in the growth of the silver clusters with, the optical absorption spectrum exhibiting two peaks corresponding to the surface plasmon resonance of copper and silver in the same matrix. It was found that with increase in fluence the silver clusters begin to grow while the already formed copper clusters segregate, which can be visualized from the absorption spectra, where the copper band disappears while the silver band grows with the increase in dose. Vacuum annealing of the Cu/Ag ion-exchanged samples resulted in complete disappearance of copper clusters while the silver clusters grew till they attained saturation. The glancing incidence X-ray diffraction study of the Cu/Ag ion-exchanged and irradiated sample showed silver peaks alone with no information of alloying between the two species.