Femtosecond laser-mediated preparation of HfNbTaTiZr refractory high-entropy alloy nanoparticles for photothermal therapy applications: Influence of solvent and fluence

Nanoparticles (NPs) have become popular photothermal therapy (PTT) photosensitizers because they can be targeted to cancer tissues and deliver a chemotherapeutic medication. Pulsed laser ablation in liquid media (PLAL) can produce stable colloidal NPs without any stabilizing agents. The stability, size distribution, and morphology of the produced colloids are influenced by the nature of NPs, laser parameters such as laser power, laser frequency repetition, ablation rate, and the specific ionic effects from the solvent. In this work, HfNbTaTiZr refractory high entropy alloy (RHEA) NPs were prepared by PLAL method in different solvents, including distilled water, ethanol, and n-hexane. The experiments were performed by irradiating a HfNbTaTiZr target with a femtosecond laser outputting 120-fs pulse at varying levels of ablation fluence (0.1, 0.16, 0.23 mJ/cm²). The elemental and structural characteristics of the prepared HfNbTaTiZr NPs were elucidated by using several advanced analytical techniques. The XRD pattern of NPs revealed that the liquid medium significantly affects the type of crystallized phases and the surface composition. The surface composition was studied by XPS, indicating that the fabricated NPs were oxidized. SEM and TEM analysis have evidenced the generation of NPs with an average diameter of less than 50 nm. The results revealed that the higher ablation fluence resulted in the formation of NPs with a larger average diameter. The highest intrinsic photothermal conversion efficiency and 12 °C time-dependent solvent heating produced in ethanol at 640 nm irradiation after 20 min were demonstrated.