LASER SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOMATERIALS

Lines of Research

The Laboratory of Optical Synthesis and characterization of Nanomaterials (NanoLaserLab) of the Department of Physics of PUC-Rio is focused on the optical synthesis, fabrication and characterization of metal-dielectric nanomaterials and devices with plasmonic properties, with a special attention to functional metal/carbon interfaces.

The fabricated nanomaterials and devices are used in optical bio(chemo)-sensing and nanomedicine (Biophysics, by external collaborations).

The research lines can be divided in:

  • Physical-chemical characterization and green synthesis of Metal-Carbon nanocomposites (NCs), luminescent carbon-dots and magnetic nanoparticles (NPs) by Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (PLAL);
  • Application of the NPs and NCs in both Thermal and Gene Therapy in human cells, with a special attention to angiogenic and anti-inflammatory responses (Biophysics, by external collaborations);
  • Fabrication of monomodal and multimodal (Dielectric Loaded Waveguides) SPR sensing platforms, with a special attention to hybrid Metal/2D-material Plasmonic devices;
  • SPR optical (bio-)sensors in the Kretschmann configuration;

Relevance/Impact

The metal-dielectric nanomaterials and devices are used in an interdisciplinary context, with applications in the area of micro and nanotechnology, medicine, physics and chemistry. The lines of research are extremely new, and are associated with important results in the area of health and environment control.

Brief Historical

The NanoLaserLab is a new laboratory associated with the Department of Physics of PUC-Rio, created in the year 2016 by his group leader, Prof. Tommaso Del Rosso. The NanoLaserLab has an optimal infrastructure for the fabrication and characterization of nanomaterials and thin film based nanodevices.

Infrastructure

For the fabrication of both the metal-dielectric nanomaterials and photonic devices, the NanoLaserLab is equipped with a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) system of Intercovamex, with a pulsed laser source (Quantel U.S.A, model Q-Smart 850) with different frequency converters (from IR to UV). People working in the NanoLaserLab have free access in the Clean Room of the LOEM laboratory (Physics Department of PUC-Rio), where they share an electron beam (e-beam) assisted vacuum deposition system (Univex 450).

For the ellipsometric characterization of the produced nanomaterials and the optical bio(chemo)-sensing, the NanoLaserLab is equipped with:

  • SPR spectrometer in the Kretschmann configuration with an angular resolution of0025o (SigmaKoki- Japan, model SGSP-80Y AW), coupled with gas and/or liquid flow cells, operating at the wavelengths of 633 nm (He-Ne, ThorLabs, U.S.A) and 783 nm (HONDAX, U.S.A).
  • SPR microscopy with CCD detector coupled to gas and/or liquid flow cells, operating at the wavelengths of 405 nm, 530 nm, 650 nm and 780 nm.

The physical-chemical characterization of the produced nanomaterials is performed by the use of the following multiuser instruments of the Department of Physics and chemistry of PUC-Rio:

  • UV-Vis Spectrophotometer of Perkin Elmer, model Lambda-950, USA;
  • DLS and Z-Sizer of Horiba, model nano SZ-100;
  • FTIR-ATR spectrophotometer of Perkin Elmer, model Spectra-Two, USA;
  • Raman spectrometer of Horiba, model ExploRA.

The NanoLaserLab also develops different codes in MATLAB language for the simulations of the optical properties of the fabricated nanomaterials and photonic metal-dielectric devices.

Other important information

The NanoLaserLab is associated to the Department of Physics of the Technical and Scientific Center of PUC-Rio, and is located in the Room 560 at the fifth (5) floor of the Cardeal Leme building. Rua Marquês de São Vicente 225, Gávea, Rio de Janeiro, RJ.