Precipitation of silver nanoparticles in silicate glasses via Nd:YAG nanosecond laser and its characterization

This work presents a new route to synthesis nanomaterials for nonlinear optical devices, Nd:YAG laser irradiation is considered as recent technique for precipitation of nanoparticles in glassy matrix. Precipitation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in silicate glasses is achieved by Nd:YAG nanosecond laser irradiation to soda lime silicate glasses doped with silver nitrate (AgNO3) using melt annealing technique. The influences of different concentrations of AgNO3 on the optical and the structural characterization of the precipitated glasses were investigated using; XRD, FT-IR, UV-Vis, and HRTEM. An obvious change in color was observed inside the silicate glasses regions after laser irradiation, which was attributed to the growth of silver nanoparticles in the glass.XRD patterns indicate the presence of sharp diffraction peaks of AgNPs after laser irradiation due to precipitated AgNPs in silicate glasses. FT-IR spectra of the precipitated samples show a little change in intensity for the sample before and after the laser irradiation combined with the identification of a new band that approves the precipitated AgNPs. The optical absorption spectra confirm the formation of the precipitated AgNPs inside the silicate glasses by appearance of Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and the intensity of the absorption peak increases with an increase of the silver nitrate concentration. TEM micrographs confirm the precipitation of silver within the samples after laser irradiation.