Effects of Laser Energy Density on Size and Morphology of NiO Nanoparticles Prepared by Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid

Metaloxide nanoparticles are of great importance to a large variety of chemical and material applications ranging from catalysts to electronic devices. Among the metal-oxide nanoparticles, NiO is one of the technologically versatile and important semiconducting materials. It has been extensively investigated because of its myriad applications in catalysts, gas sensors, Li-ion battery materials, electrochromic coatings, active optical fibers, fuel cell electrodes, and so on. The effect of laser ablation at various laser energy densities was investigated. At low energy densities, the produced nanoparticles were of irregular morphology with an average size of 2.4 nm. At higher laser energy densities, the produced nanoparticles were spherical, with a polycrystalline structure and their average size was around 10 nm. More detailed investigations on effects of laser wavelength and energy density as well as the particle size effect on the catalytic activity of synthesized NiO nanoparticles will be investigated in future works