Real time determination in aqueous medium of the chemical nature and concentration of suspended nanoparticles produced by pulsed laser ablation using a simple infrared turbidimeter and an optical fiber probe

Abstract For more than ten years, Liquid-Phase Laser Ablation (LP-PLA) has attracted much attention and has been presented as an effective and innovative method of synthesis of functional nanoparticle materials. In this paper, we use a fiber optic probe to determine directly in real time and in aqueous medium, the chemical nature of the various constituent compounds nanoparticles produced during Femto-Second Liquid-Phase Laser Ablation. Also, a simple and accurate infrared turbidimeter has been installed judiciously for monitoring by nephelometry and turbidimetry, the concentration of nanoparticles generated in the medium by pulsed laser ablation. A specialized software was developed to supervise by data acquisition the Infrared turbidimeter, both designed and built in-house. For a moderated energy of the incident pulsed laser beam on the metal target of iron and copper, it was possible to determine, by the optical fiber probe and a spectrophotometer, the peaks of the various compounds constituting each metal. The concentration of produced nanoparticles was found tobe linear with time, meaning that the production of nanoparticles by Pulse Laser Ablation is a controllable and precise process. Spectrophotometry can easily be associated with nephelometry and turbidimetry to ensure best monitoring of the production of nanoparticles by laser ablation method.