Nucleation and growth kinetics of nanocrystals formed upon pulsed-laser ablation in liquid

Abstract

To have a clear physical insight into the nanocrystal formation upon pulsed-laser ablation in liquid, we proposed a theoretical kinetic approach to elucidate the nucleation and growth of nanocrystals with respect to the capillary effect of the nanometer-sized curvature of crystalline nuclei. Taking the nanodiamond synthesis by pulsed-laser ablating a graphite target in water as an example, we predicted the nucleation time, growth velocity, and the grown size of nanodiamonds on the basis of the proposed kinetic model, and found that these theoretical results are in well agreement with our experiment cases. We expected that the kinetic approach is generally applicable to understanding the basic physics of nanocrystal formation in pulsed-laser ablation in liquid.

Pulsed laser ablation in liquid for micro-/nanostructure generation

“…The pressure of PLAL experiments generally is the normal atmosphere (760 Torr), and the liquid layer exerts a strong inertia confinement, thus the nucleation time may be in the order of 10 −5 s or shorter, depending on the liquid type and solid properties, etc. A typical time is very likely larger than the isothermal nucleation time of 10 −10 -10 −9 s calculated by Wang et al [85]. Nevertheless, it should be still smaller than the time of first oscillation of a laser-induced bubble (∼10 −4 s), and thus it is expected that clustering and growth of the clusters, namely, formation of nano-or even micro-particles occurs in the laser-induced bubble.…”

Laser ablation in liquids: Applications in the synthesis of nanocrystals

“…More recently, taking the surface tension induced by nanosized curvature of crystalline nuclei into account, we have developed a thermodynamic approach at the nanometer scale to elucidate the nucleation, phase transition, and growth [181]. Up to date, this thermodynamic method has been widely used to address the nucleation, phase transition, and growth of stable and metastable phases at the nanometer scale [182][183][184][185][186][187][188][189][190][191][192][193][194][195]. Accordingly, to gain a better understanding of the phase formation upon laser ablation of solids in liquids from the pointview of thermodynamics.…”

Phase transition in BCx system under high-pressure and high-temperature: Synthesis of cubic dense BC3 nanostructured phase

“…However, the diffusion of boron atoms can also be reduced by using other techniques. A short pulse laser, such as a nanosecond or picosecond laser, is used for synthesis of nanodiamonds 45,60,61 . It was found that the atomic-level structure of sp 3 -bonded carbon nanoscale domains were formed dynamically from graphite by femtosecond-laser excitation 62 .…”