Fabrication of Inorganic Compound Nanostructures by Laser Irradiation in Liquid: Oxides, Hydroxides, Carbides, and Other Inorganic Materials

Abstract

Laser ablation in a liquid environment is of considerable interestas a new tool for preparing nanoparticles. Pioneering work byPatil, Henglein, and others proved the possibility of nanoparticlefabrication by quenching.1−3 Mafune´ et al. introduced a chemical approach to laser ablation in liquid by reporting the surfactanteffects on noble metal nanoparticle formation in water by laserablation of bulk noble metal,4 and their work triggered theapplication of this technique to various material systems. Carbon-related materials have also been the target of this technique forexotic nanomaterial fabrication (e.g., nanodiamond, nanohorn, andnanoonion).5,6The advantages of “laser ablation in liquid” are (1) inexpensiveequipment for controlling the ablation atmosphere, (2) simplicity ofthe procedure, and (3) the minimum amount of chemical speciesrequired for synthesis, compared with the conventional chemicalprocess. Because of these advantages, laser ablation in liquid hasattractedmuch attention as a novel tool for nanoparticle fabrication.