Swift heavy ion induced modifications of optical and microstructural properties of silver-fullerene C(60) nanocomposite
Résumé
In this paper, we study the optical and microstructural properties of silver-fullerene C(60) nanocomposite and their modifications induced by swift heavy ion irradiation. Silver nanoparticles embedded in fullerene C(60) matrix were synthesized by co-deposition of silver and fullerene C(60) by thermal evaporation. The nanocomposite thin films were irradiated by 120 MeV Ag ions at different fluences ranging from 1 x 10(12) to 3 x 10(13) ions/cm(2). Optical absorption studies revealed that the surface plasmon resonance of Ag nanoparticles showed a blue shift of similar to 49 nm with increasing ion fluence up to 3 x 10(13) ions/cm(2). Transmission electron microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy were used to quantify particle size and metal atomic fraction in the nanocomposite film. Growth of Ag nanoparticles was observed with increasing ion fluence. Raman spectroscopy was used to understand the effect of heavy ion irradiation on fullerene matrix. The blue shift in plasmonic wavelength is explained by the transformation of fullerene C(60) matrix into amorphous carbon. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.