Author(s)

Umair Yaqub Qazi¹, Zameer Shervani^2*, Rahat Javaid³, Shinji Kajimoto⁴, Hiroshi Fukumura⁴

¹Division of Nanomaterials and Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China.
²Nanomaterials Production Division, Food and Energy Security Research and Product Center, Sendai, Japan.
³Fukushima Renewable Energy Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, AIST, Fukushima, Japan.
⁴Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were fabricated by repetitive irradiation of near ultraviolet (UV) nanosecond laser pulses (355 nm, 5 ns) in an aqueous solution of silver nitrate in the absence of stabilizing agents. A broad absorption peak was observed in the visible region showing the formation of a variety of AgNPs in the solution. Among the variety of products, it was found that silver nanocubes (AgNCs) grew in size with longer laser irradiation time. The size of AgNCs also increased with higher laser intensity. The average size of AgNCs, investigated by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) was in the range of 75 - 200 nm. The number of reduced atoms in AgNCs as a function of laser intensity showed that the AgNCs are apparently produced by a four photon process, implying that the formation of dimer silver atoms is essential for the formation.

Nanosecond Laser, Silver Nanocubes, Nanoparticle Synthesis, Laser Intensity, Irradiation Time

Qazi, U. , Shervani, Z. , Javaid, R. , Kajimoto, S. and Fukumura, H. (2017) Formation and Growth of Silver Nanocubes upon Nanosecond Pulsed Laser Irradiation: Effects of Laser Intensity and Irradiation Time. Advances in Nanoparticles, 6, 148-157. doi: 10.4236/anp.2017.64013.