Preparation of triethylamine stabilized silver nanoparticles for low-temperature sintering

In this article, silver nanoparticles were synthesized by chemical reduction from silver nitrate using triethylamine as the protecting and reducing agents simultaneously. The average size of the silver nanoparticles was about 2.10–4.65 nm, which allowed low-temperature sintering of the metal. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and energy dispersive spectrometric (EDS) analysis results indicate that silver nitrate has been converted to silver nanoparticles completely. Using a 20 wt% silver nanoparticles suspension with thermal treatment at 150 °C, silver films with a resistivity of 8.09 × 10⁻⁵ Ω cm have been produced, which is close to the resistivity of bulk silver.     

Laser based fabrication of chitosan mediated silver nanoparticles

We report fabrication of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by laser ablation technique in different concentrations of aqueous chitosan solution. The ablation process of silver plate was carried out by using a nanosecond Q-switched Nd:YAG pulsed laser and the characterization of Ag NPs was done by Transmission electron microscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. UV-visible plasmon absorption spectra revealed that the formation efficiency as well as the stability of nanoparticles was increased by addition of chitosan. On the other hand, the size decrement of nanoparticles was more remarkable in the higher chitosan concentration.     

Saturable and reverse saturable absorption in aqueous silver nanoparticles at off-resonant wavelength

Silver nano-colloid was prepared by chemical reduction method and its nonlinear absorption properties were investigated by using open aperture z-scan experiment with nanosecond laser pulses operating at 532?nm. Interestingly, a switch over from saturable absorption to reverse saturable absorption was observed when the input intensity is increased from 28.1 to 175.8?MW/cm². The underlying mechanism responsible for the observed switching behaviour is the interplay between ground state plasmon band bleaching and excited state absorption. Theoretical fitting was done by using a model in which nonlinear absorption coefficient as well as saturation intensity are incorporated.     

Laser sintering of silver nanoparticle thin films: microstructure and optical properties

We present a method for the sintering of silver (Ag) nanoparticle thin films by millisecond pulsed laser irradiation. The microstructure of sintered thin films and sintering behaviors of nanoparticles were systematically investigated in this paper. Absorption spectra of sintered thin films showed blue-shifted surface plasmon resonances (SPR) from 500 nm to 480 nm and red-shifted from 480 nm to 550 nm when laser power was varied from 100 W to 140 W and from 140 W to 200 W, respectively. This indicates a new technique to control light absorption through joining nanoparticles with laser sintering. According to theoretical calculations based on a heat diffusion model, the melting temperature of these Ag nanoparticles was estimated to be 440 °C during laser irradiation.     

银纳米颗粒阵列的表面增强拉曼散射效应研究

利用具有高密度拉曼热点的金属纳米结构作为表面增强拉曼散射(SERS)基底,可以显著增强吸附分子的拉曼信号.本文通过阳极氧化铝模板辅助电化学法沉积制备了高密度银(Ag)纳米颗粒阵列;利用扫描电子显微镜和反射谱表征了样品的结构形貌和表面等离激元特性;用1, 4-苯二硫醇(1, 4-BDT)为拉曼探针分子,研究了Ag纳米颗粒阵列的SERS效应.通过优化沉积时间,制备出高SERS探测灵敏度的Ag纳米颗粒阵列,检测极限可达10~(-13)mol/L;时域有限差分法模拟结果证实了纳米颗粒间存在强的等离激元耦合作用,且发现纳米颗粒底端的局域场增强更大.研究结果表明Ag纳米颗粒阵列可作为高效的SERS基底.     

Laser fabrication of periodic microstructures from silver nanoparticles in polymer films

The fabrication of photoand thermostable periodic structures from silver nanoparticles in polymer plates (cross-linked oligourethanemethacrylate impregnated with silver precursors Ag(hfac) and Ag(fod) dissolved in the supercritical carbon dioxide) is studied. The process is based on the local (depending on the irradiated spot size) photochemical decomposition of the silver precursors in the polymer matrix that initiates the atomic aggregation and creation of silver nanoparticles with the plasmon resonance in absorption in the spectral range 420–430 nm. The third-harmonic radiation of a Nd:YAG laser (355 nm) and the Kr⁺-laser (521 nm) radiation are employed for the recording of periodic structures with submillimeter and micron resolutions. The photosensitivity of the polymer matrices impregnated with the silver precursors to the UV and visible radiation is discussed.     

Laser ablation of silver in different liquids: Optical and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles

The optical, structural, and nonlinear optical properties of silver nanoparticles prepared using the method of laser ablation in various liquids at wavelengths of 397, 532, and 795 nm with laser pulses of different duration are studied. An analysis of the dimensional and spectral characteristics of the silver nanoparticles revealed a time dynamics of the nanoparticle size distribution in solutions. It is shown that thermal self-defocusing is observed for the case of nanosecond or shorter pulses generated with a high repetition rate. For picosecond and femtosecond pulses with a low repetition rate, the effects of self-focusing (γ = 3 × 10^?13 cm² W^?1) and saturated absorption (β = ?1.5 × 10^?9 cm W^?1) were observed in the solutions under study. The third-order nonlinear susceptibility of the silver nanoparticles was found to be 5 × 10^?8 esu at a wavelength of 397 nm.     

Effects of particle size and laser wavelength on heating of silver nanoparticles under laser irradiation in liquid

Laser energy absorption results in significant heating of metallic nanoparticles and controlling the heating of nanoparticles is one of the essential stages of selective cell targeting. It is necessary to note that the laser action should be done by laser pulses with a wavelength that is strongly absorbed by the particles and it is important to select wavelengths that are not absorbed by the medium. Laser pulse duration must be chosen sufficiently short to minimize heat flow emitted from absorbing particles. Numerical calculations based on Mie theory were used to obtain the effect of laser wavelength and particle size on absorption factor for colloidal silver nanoparticles with radii between 5 and 50 nm. Calculations for acquiring temperatures under irradiations of pulsed KrF laser and pulsed Nd:YAG laser were performed. We showed that for low wavelengths of the laser, smaller nanoparticles have larger absorption efficiency compared to larger nanoparticles and in high wavelengths, temperature of all particles increased in the same way.     

Synergistic effect of silver seeds and organic modifiers on the morphology evolution mechanism of silver nanoparticles

Triangular, truncated triangular, quadrangular, hexagonal, and net-structured silver nanoplates as well as decahedral silver nanoparticles were manipulatively prepared starting from silver nitrate and silver seeds in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), and Tween 80 at room temperature, respectively. UV-vis spectroscopy, XRD, HRTEM, SAED, and FTIR were used to illustrate the crystal growth process and to characterize the resultant silver nanoparticles. It was found that the silver seeds and organic modifiers synergistically affected the morphology evolution of the silver nanoparticles. The co-presence of silver seeds and PEG was beneficial to the formation of triangular and truncated triangular silver nanoplates; the silver seeds and PVP favored the formation of polygonal silver nanoplates; the silver seeds and Tween 80 preferred to the formation of net-structured silver plates. The morphology evolution of the resultant silver nanoparticles was correlated with the crystallinity of the silver seeds and the adsorption ability of the organic modifiers on the crystal surfaces.     

The effect of concentration on the thermo-optical properties of colloidal silver nanoparticles

The thermo-optical properties of colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are investigated under a low power laser irradiation at 532 nm. Colloidal AgNPs are synthesized by nanosecond pulsed laser ablation of a pure silver plate in distilled water. The morphology and size of the AgNPs are determined by transmission electron microscopy. Closed Z-scan measurements reveal that nonlocal thermo-optic process is responsible for the nonlinear refractive index of colloid containing different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. The Z-scan behavior of the nanoparticle samples has been investigated based on a nonlocal thermo-optic process and it is shown that the aberrant thermal lens model is in excellent agreement with the experimental results. Z-scan measurement fits have allowed the values of nonlinear refractive index (n₂) and thermo-optic coefficients (dn/dt) to be determined at different concentrations of silver nanoparticles. Large enhancement factors were measured for values of n₂ and dn/dt of the colloids at higher silver nanoparticle volume fraction. Our results suggest that nonlocal thermal nonlinear processes will play an important role in the development of photonic applications involving metal nanoparticle colloids.     

Comparing the interparticle coupling effect on sensitivities of silver and gold nanoparticles

The wavelength shift of surface plasmon resonance peak resulting from the electromagnetic coupling noble metal nanoparticle increases with the increase in the dielectric constant of the medium and the decrease in the interparticle separation distance. In this work, the discrete dipole approximation method was used to calculate the extinction efficiency spectra of the silver–silver and gold–gold nanoparticle pairs. This work shows that the silver coupled-particle system has higher plasmon resonance sensitivity as compared to the gold coupled-particle system. However, the silver coupled-particle system has lower and a faster near-exponential decay of sensitivity enhancement factor than the gold coupled-particle system. Thus, the silver coupled-particle may be more suited for sensing applications as compared to the gold coupled-particle, but the interparticle coupling effect displays more pronounced effect on the gold coupled-particle system as compared to the silver coupled-particle system.     

A study of the sintering effect on ultrafine silver particles by means of positron annihilation

Angular correlation curves of two-photon annihilation in ultrafine silver particles are shown to become similar to that of bulk silver with increasing degree of sintering.     

分布反馈式光纤激光器的光热调谐方法

针对现有光纤激光器调谐方法通常不能兼顾调谐幅度和调谐速率的问题,提出了一种基于光热效应的调谐方法,有效兼顾了调谐幅度和调谐速率的要求。分析了光纤激光器的输出波长随泵浦功率变化而改变的实验现象,并以980 nm泵浦源自身调谐为例,进行了静态和动态实验,结果表明:基于光热效应的分布反馈式光纤激光器静态调谐幅度达392 MHz/100 mA,动态调谐速率超过2 kHz,验证了光纤激光器光热调谐方案的可行性。     

Tunable surface-plasmon-resonance wavelength of silver island films

This paper experimentally and theoretically investigates the effect of the underlayer medium on tuning of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) wavelength of silver island films,and the effect of substrate temperature on the morphologies and optical properties of the films.From the absorption spectra of single Ag with various thickness and overcoated (Ag/TiO 2) films deposited on glass substrates at various substrate temperatures by RF magnetron sputtering,we demonstrate that the surface plasmon resonance wavelength can be made tunable by changing the underlayer medium,the thickness of metal layer and the substrate temperature.By varying substrate temperatures,the interparticle coupling effects on plasmon resonances of nanosilver particles enhance as the spacing between the particles reduces.When the substrate temperature is up to 500 C,the absorption peak decreases sharply and shifts to shorter wavelength side due to the severe coalescence between silver islands in the film.     

激光波长及脉宽对光学材料抗损伤性能的影响

 基于能带理论,利用激光与光学材料相互作用的理论模型,研究了激光辐照下材料导带自由电子数密度的变化,讨论了材料损伤阈值与激光波长、脉冲宽度、材料禁带宽度之间的关系,数值分析了激光波长和脉冲宽度对损伤阈值的影响。结果表明:当脉宽小于1 ps时,材料损伤阈值随脉宽增大而减小;当脉宽大于1 ps时,材料损伤阈值随脉宽增大而增大;激光波长为10 fs~10 ns,损伤阈值随着波长的减小而减小。     

Laser sintering of green compacts

Green Compact Laser Sintering (GCLS) is a new technique for sintering powder metallurgical components by laser irradiation. After mixing; powders are pressed into a green compact; which can then be sintered by laser irradiation. The properties of powder metallurgical alloys for GCLS and conventional sintering are compared.     

Laser energy dependence on femtosecond laser-induced nucleation of protein

We have investigated femtosecond laser-induced nucleation of hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) as a function of the laser pulse energy and pulse time width. This is the first recorded study to confirm that the femtosecond laser-induced nucleation of HEWL can be induced at a specific threshold laser energy. The threshold energy is comparable to that of cavitation bubble generation. The results strongly suggest that morphological changes in the solution are key factors for protein nucleation.     

Measurement of two-photon absorption using the photo-thermal lens effect

We report on new schemes for pump-probe photo-thermal lens methods aimed for measuring the two-photon absorption coefficient of a given material. We show that by focusing a probe beam in the presence of a nearly collimated pump beam, we create a thermal lens which yields measurement of the two-photon absorption coefficient of nitrobenzene of (3.9 ± 0.3) 10⁻¹⁰ cm/W at 532 nm. We also show that when the pump field is focused in the presence of a nearly collimated probe beam the width of the z-scan signature of a two-photon absorption process is nearly one order of magnitude smaller than that of a one-photon process. We show experimental evidence of the effect obtained for nitrobenzene.     

Immobilization of silver nanoparticles on silica microspheres

The silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) have been immobilized onto silica microspheres through the adsorption and subsequent reduction of Ag⁺ ions on the surfaces of the silica microspheres. The neat silica microspheres that acted as the core materials were prepared through sol–gel processing; their surfaces were then functionalized using 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (MPTMS). The major aims of this study were to immobilize differently sized Ag particles onto the silica microspheres and to understand the mechanism of formation of the Ag nano-coatings through the self-assembly/adsorption behavior of Ag NPs/Ag⁺ ions on the silica spheres. The obtained Ag NP/silica microsphere conglomerates were characterized by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Their electromagnetic wave shielding effectiveness were also tested and studied. The average particle size of the obtained Ag NPs on the silica microsphere was found that could be controllable (from 2.9 to 51.5 nm) by adjusting the ratio of MPTMS/TEOS and the amount of AgNO₃.