Femtosecond Laser Irradiation of Plasmonic Nanoparticles in Polymer Matrix: Implications for Photothermal and Photochemical Material Alteration

Abstract

Abstract:We analyze the opportunities provided by the plasmonic nanoparticles inserted into the bulk of a transparent medium to modify the material by laser light irradiation. This study is provoked by the advent of photo-induced nano-composites consisting of a typical polymer matrix and metal nanoparticles located in the light-irradiated domains of the initially homogeneous material. The subsequent irradiation of these domains by femtosecond laser pulses promotes a further alteration of the material properties. We separately consider two different mechanisms of material alteration. First, we analyze a photochemical reaction initiated by the two-photon absorption of light near the plasmonic nanoparticle within the matrix. We show that the spatial distribution of the products of such a reaction changes the symmetry of the material, resulting in the appearance of anisotropy in the initially isotropic material or even in the loss of the center of symmetry. Second, we analyze the efficiency of a thermally-activated chemical reaction at the surface of a plasmonic particle and the distribution of the product of such a reaction just near the metal nanoparticle irradiated by an ultrashort laser pulse.

Diffusion-controlled alteration of inhomogeneous materials: tailoring of the spatial distribution of nanoparticles in nanocomposites

“…Additionally, the phenomenon of the accumulation of the particles in accordance with the localized matrix modification may be employed for the fabrication of a correlated spatial distribution of different NP types in the recently discussed exciton-plasmon photoinduced nanocomposites. 16,17 The local variation of the matrix density causes a substantial change in the diffusivity of the dissolved species. The different densities of the crystalline and amorphous parts of polyethylene are a typical example.…”

Seawater Desalination by Interfacial Solar Vapor Generation Method Using Plasmonic Heating Nanocomposites

“…The fabrication cost of a solar evaporation device is an important issue for further commercialization [ 38 , 39 ]. In recent years, scientists devoted great efforts to studying and developing solar absorbers with enhanced light-harvesting ability and high solar-to-thermal conversion efficiency [ 40 ]. However, the fabrication cost, as an unavoidable issue, has always been ignored.…”

Plasmon assisted 3D microstructuring of gold nanoparticle-doped polymers

“…However, at this point there are still further questions concerning Au NPs and femtosecond laser light interaction in pre-polymers that should be answered. We attributed the increase in photosensitivity to amplified plasmonic effects caused by Au NPs in the focal point, but at this point we are not sure if this is a complimentary effect that only supports photochemical reaction that has already been started by other effects (for example multiphoton absorption or avalanche ionisation [41,45]) or it actually initiates photochemical reactions. Finally, other nanocompounds containing other polymers commonly used in 3DLL should be tested.…”

“…When the concentration of Au NPs is 3.9•10 −3 wt% lines are on average 14.8% wider than those obtained in pure SZ2080. We consider such an increase in photosensitivity for sufficient Au NP content in the pre-polymer to be the consequence of excitation of Au NP surface plasmons due to the used laser wavelength of 515 nm (figure 2) [45]. This means that very low concentrations of Au NPs (around 10 −3 wt%) could act as an agent in the pre-polymer which enhances photosensitivity and increases feature sizes achieved during fabrication, thus allowing us to replace potential toxic PI [46] when its concentration is around or a little above 0.1 wt%.…”