Pursuit of optimal synthetic conditions for obtaining colloidal zero-valent iron nanoparticles by scanning pulsed laser ablation in liquids

Publication date: 25 January 2020Source: Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Volume 81Author(s): Ruth Lahoz, Eva Natividad, Álvaro Mayoral, Christian Rentenberger, Daniel Díaz-Fernández, Eduardo J. Félix, Leonardo Soriano, Wolfgang Kautek, Oscar Bomati-MiguelAbstractLiquid-Assisted Pulsed Laser Ablation (LA-PLA) is a promising top-down method to directly synthesize colloidal dispersions of nanoparticles in a eco-friendly manner. However, the role of LA-PLA synthesis parameters is not yet fully agreed. This work seeks to optimize the production of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) particles suitable for biomedical or environmental applications using nanosecond LA-PLA on iron targets with different ablation media, laser and target scanning parameters. The use of alcohols as solvents produces iron-iron oxide core-shell nanoparticles with amorphous cores, except for a small crystalline fraction corresponding to the biggest core sizes. Decreasing carbon chain length and complexity leads to a thinning of the carbonaceous material coatings and an increase of the colloidal stability and the nanoparticle productivity. Moreover, a decrease of solvent density and surface tension allows obtaining reduced sizes and polydispersity values. Among, laser and scanning parameters, the pulse accumulation per spot displayed a clear effect in boosting size and productivity. As main outcome, aqueous dispersions with suitable colloidal properties are obtained, either by transferring...
Source: Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry - Category: Chemistry Source Type: research