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Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale

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A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2020) | Viewed by 27728

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rebeca De Nalda

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Guest Editor

CSIC - Instituto de Química Física Rocasolano (IQFR), Madrid, Spain
Interests: Laser-induced processes in physicochemical systems: laser induced plasmas, laser fabrication and processing of materials, laser ablation, pulsed laser deposition, laser applications in nanotechnology, nonlinear optics, harmonic generation, molecular dynamics, laser control

Dr. Esther Rebollar

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Guest Editor

CSIC - Instituto de Química Física Rocasolano (IQFR), Madrid, Spain
Interests: laser micro- and nanoprocessing of polymers; study of mechanisms of laser ablation of polymers; laser induced period surface structures in polymers; polymer thin films; applications of modified polymers; functional polymers; pulsed laser deposition; atomic force microscopy
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Dear Colleagues,

Since the first laser was developed in 1960, laser technology has been growing, and today, laser techniques constitute attractive alternatives for the processing of materials affording the sought versatility and reliability. Indeed, laser techniques can be used to fabricate substrates with a variety of high-precision patterns at different length scales and can be applied in noncontact and flexible set-ups under a great variety of environments. Moreover, researchers can make use of the versatility of laser sources and adapt them to material properties so that targeted nanoparticle distributions or specific surface patterns are obtained. Laser-based synthesis of nanomaterials and nanostructures find applications in many areas, such as plasmonic sensors, solar cells, catalysis, nano-biophotonics, and medicine, just to name a few.

This Special issue on “Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale” aims to gather contributions on recent advances demonstrating the capabilities of laser methodologies to process materials at the nanometer scale. Contributions regarding both the fundamentals of the laser processing mechanisms or the applications of the obtained nanomaterials will be welcome.

Dr. Rebeca De Nalda
Dr. Esther Rebollar
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Laser nanostructuring
Laser ablation
Laser texturing
Laser deposition
Laser synthesis
Laser transfer and printing
Laser-assisted formation of nanoparticles
Modeling and simulation of laser-induced nanomaterials
Applications of laser-nanostructured materials

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 3089 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Femtosecond Double-Pulse Laser Ablation and Deposition of Co-Doped ZnS Thin Films

by Ignacio Lopez-Quintas, Esther Rebollar, David Ávila-Brande, Jesús G. Izquierdo, Luis Bañares, Carlos Díaz-Guerra, Ana Urbieta, Marta Castillejo, Rebeca de Nalda and Margarita Martín

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(11), 2229; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10112229 - 10 Nov 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2502

Abstract

Nanostructured thin films of Co-doped zinc sulfide were synthesized through femtosecond pulsed laser deposition. The scheme involved ablation of physically mixed Co and ZnS with pairs of ultrashort pulses separated in time in the 0–300 ps range. In situ monitorization of the deposition process was carried out through a simultaneous reflectivity measurement. The crystallinity of generated nanoparticles and the inclusion of Co in the ZnS lattice is demonstrated by transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (TEM-EDX) characterization. Surface morphology, Raman response, and photoluminescence of the films have also been assessed. The role of interpulse temporal separation is most visible in the thickness of the films obtained at the same total fluence, with much thicker films deposited with short delays than with individual uncoupled pulses. The proportion of Co in the synthesized doped ZnS nanoparticles is found to be substantially lower than the original proportion, and practically independent on interpulse delay. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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13 pages, 4343 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metal Nanoparticle Film Deposition by Femtosecond Laser Ablation at Atmospheric Pressure

by Tony Donnelly, Gearoid O’Connell and James G. Lunney

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(11), 2118; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10112118 - 25 Oct 2020

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2580

Abstract

Nanoparticle gold films were deposited using femtosecond laser ablation in argon at atmospheric pressure in an arrangement where a flat Au target was irradiated through a transparent substrate in close proximity. Spatially extended films were made by rastering the target and substrate assembly together in the laser beam. Fast imaging clearly showed pronounced narrowing of the ablation plume, which can be understood in terms of laser induced multiphoton ionisation and heating of the gas near the ablation site. Deposition was possible for target-substrate separation up to 2 mm. The equivalent thickness of the nanoparticle film was controlled in the range 0.4–28 nm by changing the target-substrate separation and the shot-to-shot spacing of ablation spot raster. The mean Feret diameter varied in the range 14–40 nm depending on the deposition conditions, and all the films showed a surface plasmon resonance at about 525 nm, which was nearly independent of the equivalent thickness. The technique can readily be applied to other materials for the fabrication of nanoparticulate films at atmospheric pressure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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16 pages, 2610 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Increasing the Size-Selectivity in Laser-Based g/h Liquid Flow Synthesis of Pt and PtPd Nanoparticles for CO and NO Oxidation in Industrial Automotive Exhaust Gas Treatment Benchmarking

by S. Dittrich, S. Kohsakowski, B. Wittek, C. Hengst, B. Gökce, S. Barcikowski and S. Reichenberger

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(8), 1582; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10081582 - 12 Aug 2020

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 3043

Abstract

PtPd catalysts are state-of-the-art for automotive diesel exhaust gas treatment. Although wet-chemical preparation of PtPd nanoparticles below 3 nm and kg-scale synthesis of supported PtPd/Al₂O₃ are already established, the partial segregation of the bimetallic nanoparticles remains an issue that adversely affects catalytic performance. As a promising alternative, laser-based catalyst preparation allows the continuous synthesis of surfactant-free, solid-solution alloy nanoparticles at the g/h-scale. However, the required productivity of the catalytically relevant size fraction <10 nm has yet to be met. In this work, by optimization of ablation and fragmentation conditions, the continuous flow synthesis of nanoparticles with a productivity of the catalytically relevant size fraction <10 nm of >1 g/h is presented via an in-process size tuning strategy. After the laser-based preparation of hectoliters of colloid and more than 2 kg of PtPd/Al₂O₃ wash coat, the laser-generated catalysts were benchmarked against an industry-relevant reference catalyst. The conversion of CO by laser-generated catalysts was found to be equivalent to the reference, while improved activity during NO oxidation was achieved. Finally, the present study validates that laser-generated catalysts meet the size and productivity requirements for industrial standard operating procedures. Hence, laser-based catalyst synthesis appears to be a promising alternative to chemical-based preparation of alloy nanoparticles for developing industrial catalysts, such as those needed in the treatment of exhaust gases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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22 pages, 13564 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Performance and Mechanism of Photoelectrocatalytic Activity of MoS_x/WO₃ Heterostructures Obtained by Reactive Pulsed Laser Deposition for Water Splitting

by Vyacheslav Fominski, Roman Romanov, Dmitry Fominski, Alexey Soloviev, Oxana Rubinkovskaya, Maxim Demin, Ksenia Maksimova, Pavel Shvets and Aleksandr Goikhman

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(5), 871; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10050871 - 30 Apr 2020

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 3611

Abstract

This work studies the factors that affect the efficiency of the photoelectrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) using MoS_x/WO₃ nano-heterostructures obtained by reactive pulsed laser deposition (RPLD) on glass substrates covered with fluorinated tin oxide (FTO). Another focus of the research is the potential of MoS_x nanofilms as a precursor for MoO_z(S) nanofilms, which enhance the efficiency of the photo-activated oxygen evolution reaction (OER) using the MoO_z(S)/WO₃/FTO heterostructures. The nanocrystalline WO₃ film was created by laser ablation of a W target in dry air at a substrate temperature of 420 °C. Amorphous MoS_x nanofilms (2 ≤ x ≤ 12) were obtained by laser ablation of an Mo target in H₂S gas of varied pressure at room temperature of the substrate. Studies of the energy band structures showed that for all MoS_x/WO₃/FTO samples, photo-activated HER in an acid solution proceeded through the Z-scheme. The highest photoelectrochemical HER efficiency (a photocurrent density ~1 mA/cm² at a potential of ~0 V under Xe lamp illumination (~100 mW/cm²)) was found for porous MoS_4.5 films containing the highest concentration of catalytically active sites attributed to S ligands. During the anodic posttreatment of porous MoS_x nanofilms, MoO_z(S) films with a narrow energy band gap were formed. The highest OER efficiency (a photocurrent density ~5.3 mA/cm² at 1.6 V) was detected for MoO_z(S)/WO₃/FTO photoanodes that were prepared by posttreatment of the MoS_x_~3.2 precursor. The MoO_z(S) film contributed to the effective photogeneration of electron–hole pairs that was followed by the transport of photoelectrons from MoO_z(S) into the WO₃ film and the effective participation of holes possessing strong oxidation ability in the OER on the surface of the MoO_z(S) film. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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10 pages, 2503 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Continuous-Wave Laser-Induced Transfer of Metal Nanoparticles to Arbitrary Polymer Substrates

by Jaemook Lim, Youngchan Kim, Jaeho Shin, Younggeun Lee, Wooseop Shin, Weihao Qu, Eunseung Hwang, Seongje Park and Sukjoon Hong

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 701; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040701 - 07 Apr 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3994

Abstract

Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) and selective laser sintering (SLS) are two distinct laser processes that can be applied to metal nanoparticle (NP) ink for the fabrication of a conductive layer on various substrates. A pulsed laser and a continuous-wave (CW) laser are utilized respectively in the conventional LIFT and SLS processes; however, in this study, CW laser-induced transfer of the metal NP is proposed to achieve simultaneous sintering and transfer of the metal NP to a wide range of polymer substrates. At the optimum laser parameters, it was shown that a high-quality uniform metal conductor was created on the acceptor substrate while the metal NP was sharply detached from the donor substrate, and we anticipate that such an asymmetric transfer phenomenon is related to the difference in the adhesion strengths. The resultant metal electrode exhibits a low resistivity that is comparable to its bulk counterpart, together with strong adhesion to the target polymer substrate. The versatility of the proposed process in terms of the target substrate and applicable metal NPs brightens its prospects as a facile manufacturing scheme for flexible electronics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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21 pages, 10707 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reactive Pulsed Laser Deposition of Clustered-Type MoS_x (x ~ 2, 3, and 4) Films and Their Solid Lubricant Properties at Low Temperature

by V. Fominski, M. Demin, V. Nevolin, D. Fominski, R. Romanov, M. Gritskevich and N. Smirnov

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(4), 653; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10040653 - 01 Apr 2020

Cited by 38 | Viewed by 3091

Abstract

We studied the tribological properties of amorphous molybdenum sulfide (MoS_x) thin-film coatings during sliding friction in an oxidizing environment at a low temperature (−100 °C). To obtain films with different sulfur contents (x ~ 2, 3, and 4), we used reactive pulsed laser deposition, where laser ablation of the Mo target was performed in H₂S at various pressures. The lowest coefficient of friction (0.08) was observed during tribo-testing of the MoS₃ coating. This coating had good ductility and low wear; the wear of a steel counterbody was minimal. The MoS₂ coating had the best wear resistance, due to the tribo-film adhering well to the coating in the wear track. Tribo-modification of the MoS₂ coating, however, caused a higher coefficient of friction (0.16) and the most intensive wear of the counterbody. The MoS₄ coating had inferior tribological properties. This study explored the mechanisms of possible tribo-chemical changes and structural rearrangements in MoS_x coatings upon contact with a counterbody when exposed to oxygen and water. The properties of the tribo-film and the efficiency of its transfer onto the coating and/or the counterbody largely depended on local atomic packing of the nanoclusters that formed the structure of the amorphous MoS_x films. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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Other

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19 pages, 3511 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

Quo Vadis LIPSS?—Recent and Future Trends on Laser-Induced Periodic Surface Structures

by Jörn Bonse

Nanomaterials 2020, 10(10), 1950; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10101950 - 30 Sep 2020

Cited by 115 | Viewed by 7878

Abstract

Nanotechnology and lasers are among the most successful and active fields of research and technology that have boomed during the past two decades. Many improvements are based on the controlled manufacturing of nanostructures that enable tailored material functionalization for a wide range of industrial applications, electronics, medicine, etc., and have already found entry into our daily life. One appealing approach for manufacturing such nanostructures in a flexible, robust, rapid, and contactless one-step process is based on the generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS). This Perspective article analyzes the footprint of the research area of LIPSS on the basis of a detailed literature search, provides a brief overview on its current trends, describes the European funding strategies within the Horizon 2020 programme, and outlines promising future directions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Laser Synthesis and Modification of Materials at the Nanoscale)

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