Silver nanoparticles were fabricated by ablation of a pure silver plate immersed in castor oil. A Nd:YAG-pulsed Q-switch laser with 1064-nm wavelength and 10-Hz frequency was used to ablate the plate for 10 minutes. The sample was characterized by ultraviolet-visible, atomic absorption, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopies, and transmission electron microscopy. The results of the fabricated sample showed that the nanoparticles in castor oil were about 5-nm in diameter, well dispersed, and showed stability for a long period of time.
In the present work, we prepared silver nanoparticles by laser ablation of pure silver plate in ethanol and then irradiated the silver nanoparticles using a 532 nm Q-switched Nd:YAG pulsed laser. Transmission electron microscopic images of the sample after irradiation clearly showed formation of big structures, such as microrods and microbelts in ethanol. The obtained microbelts had a width of about 0.166 μm and a length of 1.472 μm. The reason for the formation of such a big structure is the tendency of the nanoparticles to aggregate in ethanol before irradiation, which causes fusion of the nanoparticles.