Nanoparticles alloying in liquids: Laser-ablation-generated Ag or Pd nanoparticles and laser irradiation-induced AgPd nanoparticle alloying

Laser irradiation of a mixture of single-element micro/nanomaterials may lead to their alloying and fabrication of multi-element structures. In addition to the laser induced alloying of particulates in the form of micro/nanopowders in ambient atmosphere (which forms the basis of the field of additive manufacturing technology), another interesting problem is the laser-induced alloying of a mixture of single-element nanoparticles in liquids since this process may lead to the direct fabrication of alloyed-nanoparticle colloidal solutions. In this work, bare-surface ligand-free Ag and Pd nanoparticles in solution were prepared by laser ablation of the corresponding bulk target materials, separately in water. The two solutions were mixed and the mixed solution was laser irradiated for different time durations in order to investigate the laser-induced nanoparticles alloying in liquid. Nanoparticles alloying and the formation of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles takes place with a decrease of the intensity of the surface-plasmon resonance peak of the Ag nanoparticles (at ~405 nm) with the irradiation time while the low wavelength interband absorption peaks of either Ag or Pd nanoparticles remain unaffected by the irradiation for a time duration even as long as 30 min. The nanoalloys have lattice constants with values between those of the pure metals, which indicates that they consist of Ag and Pd in an approximately 1:1 ratio similar to the atomic composition of the starting mixed-nanoparticle solution. Formation of nanoparticle networks consisting of bimetallic alloyed nanoparticles and nanoparticles that remain as single elements (even after the end of the irradiation), joining together, are also formed. The binding energies of the 3d core electrons of both Ag and Pd nanoparticles shift to lower energies with the irradiation time, which is also a typical characteristic of AgPd alloyed nanoparticles. The mechanisms of nanoparticles alloying and network formation are also discussed.