Continuous laser irradiation under ambient conditions: A simple way for the space-selective growth of gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith

Highlights: → Visible continuous laser direct-write gold nanoparticles inside a silica monolith. → The presence of the additive (Na2CO3) is not necessary to the growth of gold nanoparticles. → A simple heat treatment leads to precipitation of gold nanoparticles inside the silica matrices with, or without, the additive. → The local precipitation of gold nanoparticles by continuous photo-irradiation occurs following a photo-thermal activated mechanism. -- Abstract: Thanks to the potential and various applications of metal-dielectric nanocomposites, their syntheses constitute an interesting subject in material research. In this work, we demonstrate the achievement of gold nanocrystals growth through a visible and continuous laser irradiation. The in situ and direct space-selective generation of metallic nanoparticles is localized under the surface within transparent silica monoliths. For that purpose, the porous silica monoliths are prepared using a sol-gel route and post-doped with gold precursors before the irradiation. The presence of Au nanoparticles inside the irradiated areas was evidenced using absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy. The comparison between the results obtained after a laser irradiation and by a simple heat-treatment reveals that the local precipitation of gold nanoparticles by continuous photo-irradiation occurs following a photo-thermal activated mechanism.