Laser-driven precipitation and modification of silver nanoparticles in soda-lime glass matrix monitored by on-line extinction measurements

In this work, we investigated the effect of nanosecond laser irradiation at 532 nm on precipitation of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) in soda lime glasses doped with silver in the Ag+–Na+ ion-exchange process. Formation and subsequent modification of Ag NPs during laser irradiation were studied by on-line extinction measurements making use of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). These investigations were further completed using scanning and transmission electron microscopies to examine the average size and distribution of nanoparticles within the sample. It has been shown that formation of NPs, its kinetics and the particle size strongly depend on the fluence and the total number of deposited laser pulses. It has been found that Ag NPs form after some specific number of pulses and they rapidly grow in size and number until some maximal value of extinction has been reached. Further irradiation of such samples only results in destruction of precipitated NPs due to photobreakup, laser ablation confirmed by strong plasma emission observation. Moreover, due to strong irradiation, the host matrix can also be affected by changing its refractive index which manifests as the blue shift of the LSPR.