Prominent absorption and luminescence characteristics of novel silver-cinnamon core-shell nanoparticles prepared in ethanol using PLAL method

Abstract

Some spherical silver-cinnamon core-shell nanoparticles (Ag‒Cin CSNPs) were prepared in ethanol via the pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) technique. The structure, morphology and optical characteristics of these CSNPs were tailored by tuning the 1064 nm Q-switch Nd:YAG pulse laser parameters. The HR-TEM images manifested the nucleation of the crystalline spherical CSNPs (mean diameter ≈13.18 ± 1.29 nm and lattice spacing ≈0.37 nm) with preferred growth along (111) lattice planes. The thermogravimetric analysis of these CSNPs confirmed their good thermal stability with the total weight loss of 73.8 wt% at 68 °C. The FTIR spectra of the cinnamon capped Ag‒NPs displayed the presence of C–O, C[dbnd]O and amine groups. The molecular π-π* absorption of the produced NPs showed a blue-shift. These CSNPs revealed an enhanced localised surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption and luminescence peaks. The quantum yield of the absorption band (concerted at 409 nm with FWHM ≈96.07 nm) was approximately 0.4323 ± 0.1. The XRD and EDX analyses of the NPs showed their high crystallinity and uniform elemental distribution of O, C and K (in cinnamon covering the Ag‒NPs surface), respectively. It is established that the novel Ag‒Cin CSNPs with the customized properties can be made by controlling the laser parameters which may be useful for various biomedical applications.