Spectroscopic studies of laser produced plasma of doped nano-structured material by laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

We present the qualitative and quantitative use of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for the compositional characterization of the doped material of zinc (Zn) and tin (Sn) nanoparticles. The transition metal zinc doped tin nanoparticles are synthesized via co-precipitation and hydrothermal routes. A single laser operating at a wavelength at 532 nm is used to produce ablated plasma. The detailed analysis of the emission spectrum of ablated plasma reveals qualitative information which can be correlated with identification of the target material. The Boltzmann plot, standard two-line, and Saha-Boltzmann plot methods are used to determine the plasma temperature of nanoparticles, while the Stark broadening method and Saha-Boltzmann equation are used to estimate the electron number density of ablated plasma. Calibration free (CF-LIBS), one line calibration free (OLCF-LIBS), and calibration curve (CC-LIBS) approaches are used for the quantitative analysis of doped nano-structured materials with low and high concentrations. Using CF-LIBS, the quantitative analysis of the sample is carried out using Boltzmann plots, while using calibration based LIES, quantitative results based on calibration curves are obtained, and limits of detection of nanoparticles are also determined using these calibration curves. Quantitative results estimated from calibration free and calibration based approaches are compared and validated with the results from standard techniques such as laser ablation time of flight (LA-TOF) spectroscopy and EDX. The present work establishes LIBS as an effective analytical tool for qualitative and quantitative estimation of the doped nanomaterials from atomic emission spectra. Published by AIP Publishing.