No Arabic abstract
We report the generation of molecular hydrogen from water by laser irradiation, without any electrodes and photocatalysts. A near infrared pulsed nanosecond laser is used for exposure of colloidal solution of Au nanoparticles suspended in water. Laser exposure of the colloidal solution results in formation of plasma of laser breakdown of liquid and emission of H2. The rate of H2 emission depends critically on the energy of laser pulses. There is a certain threshold in laser fluence in liquid (around 50 J/cm2) below which plasma disappears and H2 emission stops. H2 emission from colloidal solution of Au nanoparticles in ethanol is higher than that from similar water colloid. It is found that formation of plasma and emission of H2 or D2 can be induced by laser exposure of pure liquids, either H2O or D2O, respectively. The results are interpreted as water molecules splitting by direct electron impact from breakdown plasma.
Influence of permanent magnetic field up to 7.5 T on plasma emission and laser-assisted Au nanoparticles fragmentation in water is experimentally studied. It is found that presence of magnetic field causes the breakdown plasma emission to start earlier regarding to laser pulse. Field presence also accelerates the fragmentation of nanoparticles down to a few nanometers. Dependence of Au NPs fragmentation rate in water on magnetic field intensity is investigated. The results are discussed on the basis of laser-induced plasma interaction with magnetic field.
Formation of molecular H2 and O2 is experimentally studied under laser exposure of water colloidal solution to radiation of a Nd:YAG laser at pulse duration of 10 ns and laser fluence in the liquid of order of 100 J/cm2. It is found the partial pressure of both H2 and O2 first increases with laser exposure time and saturates at exposures of order of 1 hour. The balance between O2 and H2 content depends on the laser energy fluence in the solution and is shifted towards H2 at high fluences. Possible mechanisms of formation of the dissociation products are discussed, from direct dissociation of H2O molecules by electrons of plasma breakdown to emission of laser-induced plasma in liquid.
The formation of stable products of water decomposition under laser exposure of aqueous colloidal solutions of nanoparticles is experimentally studied. Laser exposure of colloidal solutions leads to formation of H2, O2, and H2O2. The dependence of the yield of these products depends on the energy density of laser radiation inside the liquid and concentration of nanoparticles. The ratio H2/O2 depends on laser fluence and is shifted towards H2. There are at least to sources of H2O2, namely, laser-induced breakdown plasma and ultrasound induced by laser pulses in the liquid. The formation of both H2 and O2 is tentatively assigned to direct dissociation of H2O molecules by electron impact from laser-induced plasma.
One-step laser generation of Au elongated nanoparticles (NPs) and their successive fragmentation and agglomeration are experimentally studied for the first time. In the present work, laser-assisted formation of Au elongated nanoparticles by ablation of a solid Au (99.99%) target in water was done using a ytterbium-doped fiber laser sources with pulse duration of 200 ns and pulse energy of 1mJ. Extinction spectrum correlating with TEM shows the appearance of absorption signal in red region and near IR-spectrum that corresponds to longitudinal plasmon resonance of electrons in elongated Au NPs. In addition, generated elongated Au nanoparticles were exposed to pulsed laser beam with various pulse energy and laser exposure time. It was found that at early stages of irradiation NPs agglomerate as the NPs chains with size of order of 1 micrometer long. Further laser exposure results in fragmentation of these chains. Possible processes of laser-assisted formation of elongated Au NPs in aqueous solutions of calcium chloride and their subsequent interaction with pulsed laser irradiation are discussed.
Experimental results are presented on laser-induced accelerated alpha-decay of Uranium-232 nuclei under laser exposure of Au nanoparticles in aqueous solutions of its salt. It is demonstrated that the decrease of alpha-activity strongly depends on the peak intensity of the laser radiation in the liquid and is highest at several terawatt per square centimeter. The decrease of alpha-activity of the exposed solutions is accompanied by the deviation of gamma-activities of daughter nuclides of Uranium-232 from their equilibrium values. Possible mechanisms of the laser influence on the alpha-activity are discussed on the basis of the amplification of the electric field of laser wave on metallic nanoparticles.