Speaker
Cormac Rafferty
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/P2.3010.pdf
Laser-Driven Synthesis of Nanoparticles for Therapeutic Applications
Rafferty, C.1, Nersisyan, G.1, Sun, Daye.2, Sun, Dan.2, Chan, CW.2, Sarri, G.1
1
Centre for Plasma Physics, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen’s University Belfast,
Belfast BT7 1NN, United Kingdom
2
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT9
5AG, United Kingdom
Nanoparticles are used in a wide range of applications in medicine, technology, energy and
industry. Recent interest in gold nanoparticles suspended in a solution, is due to their
applications as a radiosensitiser in radiotherapy[1], and as contrast agents in MRI and CT
imaging, along with many other applications in the field of medicine [2]. The most challenging
aspect in production of nanoparticles is controlling the size distribution and impurities in the
solution, which arise from the chemical synthesis and ball milling [3]. Recent advancements of
ultra-fast lasers have enabled a new method of synthesising nanoparticles from Laser Ablation
in Liquids (LAL). Femtosecond pulsed lasers can deliver sufficient energy to a target for
vaporisation within the thermal timescale, allowing the generation of cold plasmas that
expand adiabatically, where nanoparticle formation has been observed. As a result a pure
colloidal solution possessing a narrow size distribution, and more spherical shapes compared
with other methods of synthesis[4][5] can be produced. In this investigation, a gold target will
be vaporised in DI water by a 550fs pulsed laser at 1.053µm. The average size and
subsequently the size distribution is controlled by varying the laser fluence from 1 J/cm 2 to
100 J/cm2. A secondary experiment involving the nanoparticle synthesis under a CW laser will
be performed for comparing results, to help understand the relatively unknown physics of
laser ablation and nanoparticle formation from lasers.
[1] Kim (et al.), American Journal Society 129 (24):7661–7665, 2017.
[2] Hainfeld (et al.), Physics in Medicine & Biology 49 (18):N30 2004.
[3] Maximova (et al.), Nanotechnology 26 (6):065601 2015
[4] Gamaly (et al.), Physics Reports 508 (4-5):91-243 2011
[5] Kabashin (et al.), Journal of Applied Physics 94 (12):7941 2003
