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Joint research project

Laser-assisted fabrication of composite nanostructures

Project leaders
Salvatore Amoruso, Nikolaj Nedialkov
Agreement
BULGARIA - BAS - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Call
CNR-BAS 2016-2018
Department
Physical sciences and technologies of matter
Thematic area
Physical sciences and technologies of matter
Status of the project
Extended
Report for renewal
rapporto-finale-cnr-bas2013-2015.pdf

Research proposal

The project focuses on development of laser based methods for fabrication of composite materials - metal oxide/noble metal nanostructures and characterization of their optical and electric properties.
Nnoble metal nanoparticles (NP) exhibit several unique optical properties. For example, efficient plasmon excitation in near UV or visible is expressed by a huge increase of extinction [1,2] resulting in absorption and scattering cross sections several orders of magnitude larger than commercial dyes [3]. In the near field zone, the electromagnetic field exhibits specific evanescent properties where intensity is strongly enhanced with respect to incident one, as its amplitude rapidly decreases with the distance from the NP surface [4,5]. These properties gave significant progress in developing new systems for analyses, as SNOM [6] and SERS [7], and open doors for applications in medicine [8-10], e.g. cancer cell treatment and tissue monitoring. The application of noble metal NP often requires a "carrier media". This triggered studies on fabrication of composite materials containing NP. In addition to passive optical properties, composite materials with NP embedded in a dielectric or a semiconductor may express novel linear and nonlinear properties [11-13] that can be tuned by NP size, shape and volume density. For example, the presence of Ag NP into ZnO can drastically change its luminescence [14]. The near field intensity enhancement due to plasmon excitation could largely increase fluorescence of host material and third-order optical susceptibility [12]. The variety of structures and materials that can be included in composite makes the topic attractive, and intensive research is needed to unveil their full potentials. The properties can be further modified if nanosized composites. Hence, diverse methods are proposed to fabricate composite materials. Bulk glass containing noble metal NP are fabricated by classical melt quenching and subsequent annealing [15-16], thin films by ion implantation [17] and ion exchange [18, 19] with subsequent annealing, co-sputtering [12], and chemical methods [20]. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) allows an easy fabrication of composites with a variety of composition and shapes [21,22]. In addition, laser ablation and laser annealing provide other interesting routes to composite fabrication and structuring. We demonstrated earlier that femtosecond (fs) and nanosecond (ns) laser processing result in direct generation of NP from the irradiated target and that laser annealing of composite films may lead to formation of 2D alloy nanoparticle arrays [23, 24]. The metal oxides (ZnO, TiO2) attracts great attention since they can be applied in many industrial processes, thanks to their specific chemical and physical properties, and are successfully used in photo-catalysis, photovoltaics, hydrogen energy cells and sensors. These properties can be strongly affected if these materials are doped by metal NP [25].
The project focus on development of laser based methods for fabrication of oxide (TiO2, ZnO, SiO2, Al2O3)/noble metal nanoparticle composite films and nanostructures. We anticipate two approaches: 1) PLD from composite target or alternate deposition of two materials to fabricate composite nanostructures or films of oxide and noble metal NP mixture; 2) Fabrication of composite 2D/3D nanostructures through fs and ns laser ablation or annealing of composite films or bulk materials. The optical and electrical characterization of the fabricated structures will be carried out with the idea of application in light harvesting, photo-catalysis and sensing. Description of fundamental physical processes related to fabrication will be based on molecular dynamics simulations, while Finite Difference Time Domain and Generalized Mie scattering will be exploited to model and interpret their optical properties.
The efficient execution of the research goals of the present project is ensured by the strong background of the team members in the field of laser processing, PLD of oxides films, oxide and noble metal nanostructures, theoretical modelling of ultrashort laser pulses interaction with matter. The two groups had fruitful earlier collaborations (Joint research projects 2004-2006, 2010-2012, 2013-2015) on laser nanostructuring, oxide nanostructure fabrication and characterization, laser induced nanoparticle formation, laser processing of biopolymers.
References:
1. U.Kreibig, M.Vollmer, Optical Properties of Metal Clusters (Springer 1995).
2. C. Noguez, J. Phys. Chem C 111, 3806 (2007).
3. P.K. Jain et al., Nanotoday 2, 18 (2007).
4. M. Quentin, Appl. Phys. B 73, 245 (2001).
5. S. Kawata, Near-Field Optics and Surface Plasmon Polaritons (Springer 2001).
6. D.Courjon, Near-field Microscopy and Near-field Optics (Imperial College Press 2003).
7. M. Moskovits, J. Raman Spectrosc. 36, 485 (2005).
8. K. Aslan et al., Curr. Opin. Chem. Biol. 9, 538 (2005).
9. P. Sharma et al., Adv. Coll. Interf. Sci. 123, 471 (2006).
10. M. Ma et al., Biomat. 33, 989 (2012).
11. R.E.P. de Oliveira et al., ACS Appl. Mater. Interf. 7, 370 (2015).
12. H.B. Liaoet al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 70, 1 (1997).
13. T. Cesca et al., Nucl. Instr. Meth. Phys. Res. B 268, 3227 (2010).
14. M. E. Koleva et al., JOMA, 144 (2014)
15. H. Ma, J.R. Qiu, Mat. Lett. 63, 151-153 (2009).
16. M. Sendova, J. A. Jimenez, J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 17764 (2012).
17. J. Licea-Rodriges et al., Opt. Mater. 36, 682 (2014).
18. F. Goutaland et al., Opt. Mat. Expr. 2, 350 (2012).
19. S. Mohapatra, J. Alloy Comp. 598, 11 (2014).
20. E. Pedrueza et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 21, 3502 (2011).
21. B. Chen et al., Appl Phys A 97, 489 (2009).
22. R Serna et al., Nanotech. 17, 4588 (2006).
23. S. Amoruso et al., J. Appl. Phys., 110, 124303 (2011).
24. N.N. Nedyalkov et al., Appl. Surf. Sci. 258, 9162 (2012).
25. L. Yanga et al., Mat. Res. Bull. 70, 129 (2015).

Research goals

In the present project, we aim to developed novel experimental approaches for the fabrication of composite materials obtained by integrating metal and oxide nanoparticle and nanostructures and characterize their optical and electrical properties. We will mainly consider metal oxide (ZnO, TiO2) and noble metal nanoparticles of Au (Ag) and develop the composite by pulsed laser deposition. This is an interesting extension of the cooperation between the two groups realized with earlier common projects (2004-2006, 2010-2012, 2013-2015) which allowed acquiring enough expertise and knowledge in the field of nanoparticles generation and nanostructures fabrication with ns and fs pulses. The present proposal intend to further extend the possibilities offered by the approaches developed in the previous projects.
The efficient realization of the goals of the project will contribute to develop new and efficient methods for fabricating novel nanostructures and characterize their properties, and continue to enlarge the knowledge on laser-matter interaction with femtosecond and nanosecond pulses.
The joint activities will mainly focus on experimental and theoretical studies on composite nanostructures fabrication and experimental characterization of their optical and electric properties. This will be also achieved by consultation and discussions, exchange of scientific information, materials and instruments and publication of common scientific papers.

Last update: 08/06/2025