Efficient nanoparticle production using wire ablation

Fabrication of nanoparticles using laser ablation in liquid is gaining more and more interest [1], especially in applications where high purity is mandatory, e.g. in the field of medicine or catalysis. This high level of purity is hard to achieve using conventional chemical synthesis, even in case of excessive purification [2]. In contrast to this, laser ablation in liquid provides a facile synthesis method for highly pure nanoparticles [3], but its implementation for large scale application is not common up until now due to its low productivity. A major issue is to increase ablation rate and subsequent nanoparticle productivity. For this purpose, we present a new ablation method by feeding a wire instead of a bulk target. In this case, a continuous flow of colloidal nanoparticles can be achieved utilizing the whole target material in a continuous process. Furthermore, first experiments show a strongly influence concerning the ablation efficiency for different wire diameter. For a 500 μm thick wire compared with a bulk target we reach an around 4.5 times higher ablation rate, normalized on fluence on target. In conclusion, wire ablation is a promising approach to enhance ablation efficiency and process control of laser ablation in liquid.