On the growth mechanism of nanoparticles in plasma during pulsed laser ablation in liquids

Particle-in-cell methodology is applied to study the simultaneous charging and coagulation of a nanoparticle, taking into account the self-consistent dynamics of surrounding plasma induced by laser ablation in liquid. The model uses, as an input, plasma temperature and electron number density which are experimentally obtained by high temporally resolved optical emission spectroscopy of the laser-induced plasma in water. Results show the important role of ions in the growth process and of the atom-induced evaporation process for the final nanoparticle size. The competition between different mechanisms of nanoparticle formation in the laser-induced plasma is finally discussed.