Dimensional Management of Fabricated Silver Nanoparticles via Concurrent Chemical Reduction with Long-Pulsed Laser Fragmentation in Origanum Majorana Extract

A straightforward and economical engraving diode laser with a 455 ± 5 nm visible wavelength was employed for the first time in a pulsed laser fragmentation in liquid (PLFL) technique coupled simultaneously with a chemical reduction method to synthesize silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) in an Origanum majorana extract liquid, as a natural reduction agent. The chemical reduction correlated with the PLFL method to control the NP size by examining the effect of irradiation times. The Ag NPs were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), UV–vis spectrophotometry, dynamic light scattering (DLS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The lattice diffraction Bragg’s planes (111), (200), (220), (311), and (222) were found by XRD. The Ag NPs had a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at around 432–409 nm. The position of this SPR peak moves toward shorter wavelengths, by around 23 nm, with increased laser irradiation. When exposure times were increased, a drop in Ag NP size was revealed, from 22 nm when only a chemical reduction approach was used to 12 nm when the PLFL technique was associated. The DLS and TEM confirmed the UV–vis results. Such consideration suggests that combining the chemical reduction and PLFL methods could enable the tuning of the Ag NP size to be tailored for specific applications. This work could open the field for synthesizing NPs and controlling their size using an easy and handy engraving laser.