Optical absorption studies of pulsed-laser-engineered silver nanospheres and their enhanced catalytic performance in the degradation of toxic methylene blue dye

Abstract

Pulsed laser ablation in liquid is an environment-friendly and one of the fastest physical routes to synthesize surfactant-free and stable metal/metal oxide nanoparticles with high purity and no harmful residues. In this study, we report the synthesis of silver nanospheres (AgNSs) using the nanosecond pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) technique resulting in the formation of a colloidal solution. Investigation of the optical properties using UV–Vis spectroscopy revealed the effects of laser wavelength, frequency, fluence, ablation time, and re-irradiation on the light absorption of the produced silver nanospheres. Physicochemical characterizations included FE-SEM, XRD, DLS, FTIR, and XPS techniques to evaluate the size, morphology, crystal structure, size distribution, zeta potential, and surface chemistry. FE-SEM studies revealed the formation of well-dispersed spherical Ag nanospheres with an average particle size of 209 nm without any agglomeration. DLS measurements showed high stability with a recorded zeta potential value of −38.27 (+/−1.81) mV and a wider size distribution. The XRD analysis indicated a face-centered cubic crystal structure with the formation of an oxide layer over the metallic silver core. The presence of silver and oxygen was confirmed through XPS studies with binding energies at 368.1 eV and 374.1 eV and oxide formation on the surface of Ag NSs. Finally, the catalytic activity of the Ag colloid was examined for the degradation of the toxic methylene blue dye. The results revealed an excellent catalytic response with 90 % of the dye degraded in just 15 min of reaction time. The kinetics of the degradation process were studied with a rate constant of 0.054/min−1 showcasing the effectiveness of the pulsed laser-synthesized silver colloidal nanomaterial as a sustainable approach for environmental remediation.