Abstract
Laser synthesis emerges as a suitable technique to produce ligand-free nanoparticles, alloys and functionalized nanomaterials for catalysis, imaging, biomedicine, energy and environmental applications. In the last decade, laser ablation and nanoparticle generation in liquids has proven to be a unique and efficient technique to generate, excite, fragment and conjugate a large variety of nanostructures in a scalable and clean way. In this work, we give an overview on the fundamentals of pulsed laser synthesis of nanocolloids and new information about its scalability towards selected applications. Biomedicine, catalysis and sensing are the application areas mainly discussed in this review, highlighting advantages of laser-synthesized nanoparticles for these types of applications and, once partially resolved, the limitations to the technique for large-scale applications.
Highlights
The intrinsic properties of nanoparticles (NPs), possibly combined with other materials, disclose many applications where one can achieve miniaturization, weight reduction and/or improved functionalities of materials [1,2]
We reported on various laser-based methods for the generation of colloids with a tight control on their properties
The peculiar chemical–physical properties that new nanomaterials produced by Laser Ablation in Liquids (LAL) can offer have been described in view of specific technological applications and showed to be competitive with those of conventional chemical procedures
Summary
The intrinsic properties of nanoparticles (NPs), possibly combined with other materials, disclose many applications where one can achieve miniaturization (e.g., of electronic equipment), weight reduction (as a result of an increased material efficiency) and/or improved functionalities of materials (e.g., higher durability, conductivity, thermal stability, solubility, reduced friction, selective molecular detection) [1,2]. There are many literature papers on laser interaction with hard, soft and smart materials, targeting future applications in the fields of energy production (nano-energy) and biomedicine [8], as well as recent progress in the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms involved in laser processing [9]. Such laser techniques are interesting in many regards, as they enable the processing of photovoltaic cells [10], thermoelectric materials and devices [11], micro and nanosystems for energy storage and conversion [12,13], biodegradable and biocompatible NPs for food packaging [14] as well as vectors for drug and gene delivery [15,16].
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