Preparation of Plasmonic Cu Nanoparticles By Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid and Their Characterization

Abstract

Photocatalysis plays a pivotal role in solar energy transferring into usable energy. In recent years, visible light driven photocatalysts have been attracted more attention due to the broadened solar absorption wavelength. In this regard, the plasmonic photocatalysts based on gold (Au), silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) can strongly absorb visible light due to their localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). Compared with most studied Ag and Au nanoparticles, Cu is a low-cost plasmonic material owing to its higher earth abundance. However, the difficulty in fabricating chemically stable Cu nanoparticles limits their application. Here, the colloidal Cu nanoparticles were fabricated via pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) by Nd:YAG laser (1064 nm) and the size and optical properties of the nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and UV-visible spectrophotometry, respectively. The effect of fabrication parameters, such as laser fluence, ablation time, organic solvent and ablation time was further investigated. In addition, the composition and stability of the as-prepared plasmonic Cu nanoparticle was also studied. The as-prepared plasmonic Cu nanoparticle exhibit strong LSPR absorption peak in the visible region, which is beneficial to the application in photocatalysis, solar energy harvesting, optoelectronics, and biomedical technologies.