Broadband optical absorption enhancement of N719 dye in ethanol by gold-silver alloy nanoparticles fabricated under laser ablation technique

The formation of gold-silver alloy nanoparticles (Au-Ag alloy NPs) by a two-step process with a pulsed Nd:YAG laser without any additives is presented. Mixtures of Au and Ag colloidal suspensions were separately obtained by 1064-nm laser ablation of metallic targets immersed in ethanol. Subsequently, the as-mixed colloidal suspensions were reirradiated by laser-induced heating at the second-harmonic generation (532 nm) for different irradiation periods of time. The absorption spectra and morphology of the colloidal alloys were studied as a function of exposure time to laser irradiation. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the formation of monodispersed spherical nanoparticles with a homogeneous size distribution in all the synthesized samples. UV-vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy measurements were also employed to characterize the changes in the light absorption and emission of N719 dye solution with different concentrations of Au-Ag colloidal alloys, respectively. The localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of Au-Ag alloy NPs enhanced the absorption and fluorescence peak of the dye solution. The mixture of dye molecules with a higher concentration of alloy NPs exhibited an additional coupling of dipole moments with the LSPR, thereby contributing to the improvement of the optical properties of the mixture