Power dependence of size of laser ablated colloidal silver nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles have been produced by laser ablation of silver metal in nanopure water without any chemical additives. It has been observed that laser power has a control over the size of the nanoparticles. Increasing laser power shows a clear blue shift in the absorption peak of fabricated nanoparticles indicating that the average size of the particles decreases with increasing laser power. Ablation for longer period reduces the average size of nanoparticles which is attributed to the re-ablation of fabricated nanoparticles. A good correlation has been observed between the peak of the absorption spectrum measured by UV-VIS spectroscopy and the average particle size measured by scanning electron microscope imaging method. The value of the coefficient of correlation is determined to be 0.965.