Anti-bacterial selenium nanoparticles produced by UV/VIS/NIR pulsed nanosecond laser ablation in liquids

摘要

The ability to produce nanoparticles free of any surface contamination is very challenging especially for bio-medical applications. Using a pulsed nanosecond Nd-YAG laser, pure selenium nanoparticles have been synthesized by irradiating selenium powder (99.999%) immerged in de-ionized water and ethanol. The wavelength of the laser beam has been varied from the UV to NIR (355, 532 and 1064 nm) and its effect on the particle size distribution has been studied by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM), revealing then the production of selenium quantum dots (size < 4 nm) by photo-fragmentation. It has been found that the crystallinity of the nanoparticles depends on their size. The zeta-potential measurement reveals that the colloidal solutions produced in de-ionized water were stable while the ones synthesized in ethanol agglomerate. The concentration of selenium has been measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The anti-bacterial effect of selenium nanostructures has been analyzed on E. Coli bacteria. Finally, selenium quantum dots produced by this method can also be useful for quantum dot solar cells.