Applications of pulsed laser ablation for enhanced gold nanofluids

We report the exploration for enhanced gold nanofluids by using the laser ablation technique of which pulsed laser ablates energetic clusters from the bulk target immersed into liquid environment. By employing pulsed laser ablation, the behavior of optical absorption band was investigated on spherical Au nanoparticles that approach to the extremely small size of 1 nm, and rod-shaped Au nanoparticles were synthesized by controlling the aggregation behavior of energetic clusters in fluids. It was found that a nominal change in particle size induces a significant change in absorption band energy in the size range. In addition, the attempt to control the growth kinetics of particles has made remarkable progress on the synthesis of environmentally friendly gold nanorods. Experimental evidences show that the laser ablation synthesis can be widely used as a potential method for advanced gold nanofluids.