Continuous laser irradiation under ambient conditions: A simple way for the space-selective growth of gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith

Hicham El Hamzaoui (1) , Remy Bernard (1) , A. Chahadih (1) , F. Chassagneux (2) , Laurence Bois (2) , Bruno Capoen (1) , Mohamed Bouazaoui (1)

1 PhLAM - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Atomes et Molécules - UMR 8523
2 LMI - Laboratoire des Multimatériaux et Interfaces

Thanks to the potential and various applications of metal-dielectric nanocomposites, their syntheses constitute an interesting subject in material research. In this work, we demonstrate the achievement of gold nanocrystals growth through a visible and continuous laser irradiation. The in situ and direct space-selective generation of metallic nanoparticles is localized under the surface within transparent silica monoliths. For that purpose, the porous silica monoliths are prepared using a sol-gel route and post-doped with gold precursors before the irradiation. The presence of Au nanoparticles inside the irradiated areas was evidenced using absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The comparison between the results obtained after a laser irradiation and by a simple heat-treatment reveals that the local precipitation of gold nanoparticles by continuous photo-irradiation occurs following a photo-thermal activated mechanism.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Hicham El Hamzaoui, Remy Bernard, A. Chahadih, F. Chassagneux, Laurence Bois, et al.. Continuous laser irradiation under ambient conditions: A simple way for the space-selective growth of gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith. Materials Research Bulletin, 2011, 46 (9), pp.1530. ⟨10.1016/j.materresbull.2011.05.010⟩. ⟨hal-00904120⟩