Solvent effect on the acoustic detection of laser-induced breakdown

Interaction between pulsed laser beam and nanoparticles in solution results in the breakdown of dielectric medium which accompanies the plasma formation. Acoustic detection of laser-induced breakdown uses the information of the recorded acoustic signal for the quantification of colloids. To this date, laser-induced breakdown detection (LIBD) is mostly applied to water-based colloidal systems. This study aimed to give an insight of the solvent effect on the acoustic LIBD. Various solvents, namely methanol, ethanol, toluene, xylene, hexane, ethylene glycol, and oil, were subjected to acoustic LIBD. The results showed that the breakdown threshold energies for the non-water solvents were shifted from that of water; thus calibration curves for nanoparticles quantification might need some corrections. In addition, the effect of solvent dilution on acoustic LIBD was also studied by varying the concentration of methanol and ethanol. It was showed that solvent dilution resulted in the shifting of breakdown threshold energy to a lower value. This study indicated that careful analysis has to be taken when quantifying nanoparticles in non-water solvents using LIBD technique.