Manufacturing of Zirconia (ZrO2) Nanoparticlesin Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Surfactant Solution using Laser Ablation Technique

Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL) has become an increasingly important technique for metals production and metal oxides nanoparticles (NPs) and others. This technique has its many advantages compared with other conventional techniques (physical and chemical). This work was devoted for production of Zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticles via PLAL technique from a solid zirconium target immersed in a group of wet environments in order to study the effect of different surfactants on the optical properties and structure of ZrO2 nanoparticles. The solutions which used for this purpose are sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The produces NPs were characterized by mean of many tests such as UV-visible (UV-Vis.), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Z-Potential. The UV-Vis spectra show a blue shift in the presence of SDS solution which indicates quantum confinement property of the NPs. The TEM test shows less than 10 nm average particle sizes with spherical and irregular shapes. It was found that use surfactant solution leads to significantly higher ablation efficiency accomplished with finer spherical nanoparticles sizes. Z-Potential test shows values in the range of (-41.3) mV and (+56.1) mV which indicate for NPs stability with extremely low agglomeration solution.