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Facile synthesis of aqueous silver nanoparticles and silver/molybdenum disulfide nanocomposites and investigation of their nonlinear optical properties

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Abstract

Silver nanoparticle (AgNP) aqueous colloids with different surface plasmon resonance (SPR) frequencies were controllably synthesized by a facile and green chemical synthesis method. The obtained AgNPs with an average diameter of ~ 15 nm show a symmetrical SPR peak at ~ 400 nm. Another longitudinal SPR mode at ~ 520 nm occurs when increasing the amount of ethanol according to the ultraviolet–visible light spectra. The third-order nonlinear optical (NLO) absorption properties of the AgNP colloids were found to switch from two-photon absorption (TPA) to saturable absorption (SA) by tuning the SPR frequency using Z-scan technique with 340 fs pulses at 515 nm. When combined with two-dimensional (2D) MoS2, an enhanced SA response is observed for Ag/MoS2 nanocomposites compared with the counterparts. The nonlinear absorption coefficient of Ag/MoS2 nanocomposites is about − (10.93 ± 0.6) × 10–2 cm·GW−1, which is almost three times higher than that of MoS2. Our work has an instructive value in promoting the potential application of AgNPs and its nanocomposites in optoelectronic and photonic devices, such as optical limiting and ultrafast laser pulse generation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No. 51972318), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai (Grant No. 19ZR1479300), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Grant No. XDB16030700). The authors are also thankful to Mr. Zi-Xin Wang from Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, CAS in measuring the Z-scan data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200444, China

    Xiao-Yan Zhang & Wei Zhou

  2. Laboratory of Micro-Nano Photonic and Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, Key Laboratory of Materials for High-Power Laser, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, 201800, China

    Hong-Qiang Wang & Jun Wang

  3. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronic Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Hong-Qiang Wang & Jun Wang

  4. Shanghai Aerospace Hydrogen Energy Technology Co., Ltd, Shanghai, 201108, China

    Yi Sun

  5. State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai, 201800, China

    Jun Wang

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  1. Xiao-Yan Zhang
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  2. Hong-Qiang Wang
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  4. Wei Zhou
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Xiao-Yan Zhang and Wei Zhou wrote the draft; Xiao-Yan Zhang and Hong-Qiang Wang collected the data; Yi Sun and Jun Wang contributed to conceived the idea of the study. All authors contributed to the writing and revisions.

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Zhang, XY., Wang, HQ., Sun, Y. et al. Facile synthesis of aqueous silver nanoparticles and silver/molybdenum disulfide nanocomposites and investigation of their nonlinear optical properties. Tungsten 3, 482–491 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42864-021-00113-6

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