Target phase-induced compositional control in liquid-phase pulsed laser ablation produced titanium ferrite nanomaterials

Titanium ferrite nanoparticles (NPs) are synthesized using liquid-phase pulsed laser ablation (LP-PLA) technique with two different lines of approaches for targets: the first target is the pellet made from the mixture of oxides of iron and titanium, while the second target is iron and titanium metal rods. In the second approach of metal rods, the titanium rod was first ablated in double-distilled water and then, the use of obtained colloidal solution of NPs as a medium for the ablation of iron rod. The titanium ferrite nanomaterials produced from these two types of targets are characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet–visible absorption spectroscopy (UV–Vis), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Raman spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurements. XRD measurements show multiphase structure for as-produced titanium ferrite NPs. The structural, compositional, optical, bonding nature and magnetic properties of nanomaterials produced from two different targets under same experimental conditions are systematically studied. Comparatively higher yield, larger average particle size and smaller saturation magnetism are observed for nanomaterials produced from ablation of interface of metallic targets over the pellet made from the mixture of corresponding metal oxide powders. ATR-FTIR and Raman studies demonstrate synthesis of titanium–iron-oxide phase of titanium ferrite NPs. The results of present research demonstrate collision and intermixing of plasmas from two different species and can be used to produce ferrite NPs of other metals.