Electric field assisted-laser ablation of cu nanoparticles in ethanol and investigation of their properties

In this study, Cu nanoparticles were synthesized for the first time using an electric field-assisted pulsed laser ablation in liquid media (EPLAL) process and the influence of electric field on the properties of the synthesized nanoparticles was investigated. As-synthesized nanoparticles were successfully characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electron dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR), Raman spectra, Dynamic light scattering analysis (DLS) and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy. The XRD analysis demonstrated face centered cubic (FCC) structure of pure Cu nanoparticles. The FE-SEM and TEM analyses revealed that increasing the strength of electric field leads to fabricating nanoparticles with narrower range of size distribution. Also, the copper nanoparticles formation were confirmed by the characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak in UV–Vis spectra. On the other hand, the UV–Vis spectra displayed the blue-shifts from 588 to 582 nm of SPR peak by increasing the strength of applied electric field, which indicated the size of Cu nanoparticles were reduced. Furthermore, the DLS analysis confirmed that the size of Cu nanoparticles reduced from 115.8 to 91.7 nm by increasing the strength of applied electric field.