FABRICATION OF COPPER NANOPARTICLES BY PULSE LASER ABLATION

Abstract

Copper (Cu) nanoparticles have attracted considerable attention because of their applications in many different fields. In this paper, Cu particles have been produced by means of a pulse laser ablation (PLA) process to ablate Cu metallic target submerged in two different mediums, water, and ethanol. The laser ablation process was occurred at energy by 900 and 700 mJ with wavelengths of 532 and 1064 nm. The UV visible spectrum was also characterized to investigate the optical properties. The atomic force microscope (AFM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to detect the nanoparticles of Cu. The results showed that the Cu nanoparticles could be prepared successfully in ethanol media at both laser energies 900 and 700 mJ for 532 and 1064 nm wavelength. Peak at 575 nm appeared in the U.V visible spectrum which indicates the formation of Cu nanoparticles. Furthermore, there is a slight chance for preparation of Cu nanoparticles in water media owing to the incidence of Cu oxides instead of Cu nanoparticles.