Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Nanoproducts of Zirconium Under Laser Ablation in Water and in Aqueous SDS Solutions

Abstract

Abstract. The paper deals with structural, morphological and optical properties ofnanoproducts which undergone zirconium laser ablation in water and in aqueous SDS solutions.Depending on experiment conditions the indicated products can appear as different crystallinephases of zirconia and organic-inorganic composites, which include SDS alkyl chains intercalatedbetween layers of zirconium oxides or hydroxides. The formation of zirconium dioxide-basedhollow nano- and microstructures is demonstrated. It is suggested that ablation-formed gas-vapor bubbles can serve as templets for generation of hollow structures.Key words: laser ablation, metal nanocompositions, zirconium dioxide, RAMAN spectra,gas-vapor bubbles.Numerous publications devoted to bothsynthesis and investigation of properties of nanodispersed zirconia have appeared by now [12, 17,34, 46, 49, 52, 54, 63]. The interest is determinedby unique mechanical, chemical, optical and otherproperties that open way to a broad practicalapplication of the material in science andtechnology [7, 26, 10, 60, 64]. Synthesis of oxidesand other metal nanocompositions by laser ablationin a liquid environment is one of perspectivemethods [25, 30, 58]. However, the data onzirconia generation by the mentioned way is farnot sufficient [11, 14, 15, 19, 33]. The experimentswere carried out mainly at low laser pulsesrepetition rate (~ 10 Hz), that limits the perspectiveof establishing productive technologies, potentialinvestigations of a number of physical andchemical processes accompanying the synthesisand affecting properties of the final product.Thus, the given work is devoted to theattempt of generating nanocrystalline zirconia bylaser ablation of zirconium target in aqueoussolutions of a surfactant. A copper vapor laser(CVL) with the power output 10–15 W, radiationpulse duration 20 ns, and pulse repetition rate10kHz was used as radiation source.Experimental sectionPhysical and technical descriptions oflaser ablation in liquid are given in detail innumerous original articles and reviews [8, 53,70]. CVL generation was performed at twowave lengths: 510.6 and 578.2 nm, line powerratio was correspondingly 2:1. UV light (255,271 and 289 nm) was obtained by nonlinearconversion of the Cu laser radiation (510.6 and578.2 nm) in a BBO crystal [3]. The laser beamwas focused on the target surface by anachromatic lens with focal distance of f = 280mm, that provided the spot diameter of less than100 µm. The target was placed into a glass cellwith deionized water or aqueous solutions of asurfactant. The volume of the liquid in the cellwas ~ 10 cm