Abstract
Laser ablation of a silver (Ag) and/or gold (Au) target was performed in liquid ammonia (l-NH3) at 233 K using nanosecond laser pulses of 1064, 532 and 355 nm wavelengths. An "in situ" monitoring of the ablation process by UV/vis/NIR spectroscopy has shown the evolution of the surface plasmon extinction band of silver or gold nanoparticles and thus confirmed their formation.
While sols of Au nanoparticles in l-NH3 are quite stable in air, those of Ag nanoparticles undergo oxidation to Ag(I) complexes with NH3 ligands. On the other hand, formation of solvated electrons, namely of the (e(-))NH3 solvates, has not been unequivocally confirmed under the conditions of our laser ablation/nanoparticle fragmentation experiment, since only very weak vis/NIR spectral features of these solvates were observed with a low reproducibility.