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Cited by 52Nanocluster Synthesis and ApplicationsLaser-Ablation Synthesis of NanoparticlesGold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications

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Highly fluorescent few atoms silver nanoclusters with strong photocatalytic activity synthesized by ultrashort light pulses

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Santillán, Jesica M. J., Muñetón Arboleda, David, Muraca, Diego, Schinca, Daniel C., Scaffardi, Lucía B.·2020·Scientific Reports
DOI 10.1038/s41598-020-64773-zPMC PMC7237420
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Abstract

While there are conventional chemical synthesis methods to generate metal nanoclusters (NCs), many of them are adversely affected by the unavoidable contamination of the nanoproduct solution, resulting in aggregation, background noise in analytical chemistry, toxicity, and deactivation of the catalyst. In this work, physical method of ultrafast laser ablation as a “green” synthesis approach together with mechanical centrifugation to obtain silver NCs, simplifying widely the chemical synthesis requirements, is proposed. Remarkably, compared with conventional methods for synthesizing Ag NCs, this new approach starts with a colloid that contains nanosized particles as well as smaller species, managing to obtain colloids with few atoms NCs by centrifugation. Those colloids were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy observing UV bands corresponding with HOMO-LUMO cluster transitions. Besides, independent HRTEM measurements were made confirming the presence of few atoms Ag NCs, as well as small NPs in different formation stages. Equally important, photocatalytic efficiency of the obtained NCs was studied through degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) when it was mixed with as-prepared or highly centrifuged colloid, showing an enhanced photocatalytic efficiency of 79% as compared to 57% for pure MB after 180 min of illumination. Consequently, this work contributes to establishing a simple approach to synthesize highly fluorescent and photocatalytic NCs.

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  • Ag nanoclusters prepared by PLAL exhibited small size with few atoms, resulting in excellent photocatalytic activity for MB degradation with an efficiency of 79%.

    “The Ag-NPs exhibited small size with few atoms, resulting in excellent photocatalytic activity for MB degradation with an efficiency of 79%.”

    From Fundamentals and comprehensive insights on pulsed laser synthesis of advanced materials for diverse photo- and electrocatalytic applications (2022) · cites this paper as [197]

    The Results and discussions (Photocatalytic activity) report 79% MB degradation after 3 hours for sample S2, which contained mostly small, few-atom Ag nanoclusters. The paper suggests that these clusters account for the enhanced activity, but does not establish that their small size caused it; S2 was a colloidal mixture, not a sample of Ag nanoparticles alone. (LLM, conf=0.84)

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Metadata

Authors
Santillán, J. M. J., Muñetón Arboleda, D., Muraca, D., Schinca, D. C., & Scaffardi, L. B.
Affiliations
  • Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR)
  • Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR)
Corresponding author
Scaffardi, Lucía B.
ORCID
Venue
Scientific Reports
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2020-05-19
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
8217-8217
ISSN
2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41598-020-64773-z
PMC
PMC7237420
OpenAlex
W3027438039
Cited by
52
References
0
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 1
FWCI
3.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • CONICET Digital (CONICET) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Greater South Information System
Funders
CNPEM, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e Materiais (CNPEM)/MCT
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Nanocluster Synthesis and Applications
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Laser-Ablation Synthesis of Nanoparticles
  • Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Gold and Silver Nanoparticles Synthesis and Applications
Keywords
silver nanoclusters, ultrafast laser ablation, green synthesis, centrifugation, fluorescence, HOMO-LUMO transition, photocatalysis, methylene blue degradation, metal nanoparticles, colloidal synthesis

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