Micro- and nanocubes of carbon have been synthesized by laser ablation in liquid. The morphology and structure analyses indicated that these micro- and nanocubes are single crystals with a body-centered cubic structure with a lattice constant of 5.46 angstroms, which is so-called C 8-like structure, and they have a slightly truncated shape bounded mainly by (200) facets. A blue-purple luminescence at room temperature was observed in the cathodoluminescence spectrum of the synthesized single micro- and nanocube of carbon, which exhibited that this unique carbon nanomaterial is a new semiconductor with blue luminescence. The physical and chemical mechanisms of the synthesis of carbon micro- and nanocubes were pursued upon laser ablation in liquid.

Electronic and magnetic properties of BiCoO(3) have been investigated using the ab initio density-functional calculations with local spin density approximation (LSDA) and LSDA+U methods. The structural stability and the origin of the multiferroism for ferroelectronic and ferromagnetic existence were addressed. It was shown that the stability of the C-type antiferromagnetic (C-AFM) structure is better than that of other possible configurations. The hybridization between Bi-O and Co-O with interplay and a local magnetic moment on the Co(3+) play important roles for the nature of the ferroelectricity and ferromagnetism. Theoretical calculations predict the insulating ground state with a band gap of 2.11 eV in the C-AFM ordering for BiCoO(3) originated from the antiferromagnetic interaction in the ab plane, which is in well agreement with experiments.

Micro- and nanocubes of single-crystalline silicon with the zinc-blende structure have been synthesized by pulsed-laser-induced liquid–solid interface reaction. Raman scattering, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, selected area electron diffraction, and electron energy-loss spectroscopy are employed to characterize the morphology and structure of the as-synthesized samples. The first-principles calculations are employed to theoretically analyze the data of experiments. The synthesis mechanisms of silicon cubes upon PLIIR are pursued in physical and chemical mechanisms.

The high-pressure nanophase, that is, the metastable tetragonal structure, of germanium is trapped by a facile technique named electrical-field assisted pulsed laser ablation in liquid at ambient pressure and temperature. On the basis of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman scattering analyses, the trapped Ge nanophase is identified to be the tetragonal structure rather than the diamond structure of bulk germanium. First-principles calculations are used to clarify the physical and chemical mechanisms of the tetragonal Ge formation upon laser ablation in liquid.

The phase transition from hexagonal to cubic GaN has been observed upon pulsed-laser ablation of hexagonal GaN powders in a liquid at room temperature and ambient pressure. At the same time, GaN nanocrystals are synthesized through this hexagonal-to-cubic phase transition. Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy is employed to characterize the luminescence of the synthesized GaN nanocrystals. First-principle calculations are used to clarify the physical and chemical mechanisms of the phase transition from hexagonal to cubic GaN upon pulsed-laser induced solid–liquid interface reaction.