Growth of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Using Pulsed Laser Ablation Technique

Nano particles exhibit physical and chemical properties distinctively different from that of bulk due to high number of surface atoms, surface energy and surface area to volume ratio. Laser is a unique source of radiation and has been applied in the synthesis of nano structured metal oxides. The pulsed laser ablation (PLA) technique in liquid medium has been proven an effective and simple technique for preparing nanoparticles of high purity. Pulsed laser deposition (PLD) is another way to fabricate nano structured single crystal thin films of metal oxides. PLA technique has been applied in our laboratory for the growth of metal oxides such as nano-ZnO, nano-ZnO2 nano-SnO2, nano-Bi2O3, nano-NiO and nano-MnO2. Different techniques such as AFM, UV, FT-IR, PL and XRD were applied to characterize these materials. We will present our latest development in the growth of nano metal oxides using PLA and PLD.