Titanium oxide nanoparticles prepared by laser ablation in water

Abstract

Abstract Titanium oxide nanoparticles in H2O-distilled solvent were prepared by irradiating a Ti target with a Nd:YAG laser (second harmonic, 532 nm), varying the operative fluence in the range 1–8 J/cm2 and the ablation time from 10 to 60 min. The as-prepared nanocolloid samples have been examined and the effects of the ablation parameters on the morphological and structural properties of the grown nanostructures have been investigated by means of UV–VIS and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements, in relation to ablation parameters. At low fluences and long ablation times, TEM measurements pointed out the presence of a high density of nanostructures with diameters of 2–3 nm. While varying the ablation parameters in the operative range, the presence of 50–100 nm diameter nanoparticles becomes predominant. Moreover, as shown by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, both the structural typologies are formed by different Ti suboxide phases with a predominance of the TiO2 phase. Keywords: titanium oxide nanoparticlespulsed laser ablationgas sensing devicesnanotechnologytitanium coatings