Tuning of Nanostructures Growth after Laser Ablation of Zn in Water

In this work we showed that pulsed laser ablation can be used as a part of nanostructuring process. The growth of colloidal nanoparticles obtained by laser ablation of Zn target in water had been demonstrated. Laser ablation in water resulted in formation of non-spherical faceted crystalline ZnO nanoparticles. The increase of colloid temperature up to 90°C during 1 h resulted in oriented growth of initial nanoparticles and formation of nanorods. The bandgap of ZnO nanoparticles was estimated as 3.35 eV. Another approach was aging of assynthesized water-based colloid at normal temperature and pressure in controlled atmosphere by placing the drop of colloid at inert substrate. This procedure resulted in formation of uniform hedgehog-like particles with about 6 μm diameter – in CO2 atmosphere or thin fiber-like nanostructures – in ambient atmosphere (i.e., CO2 deficiency). Investigation of chemical state had shown that these nanostructures contained Zn5(OH)6(CO3)2. The temperature and CO2 atmosphere were successfully used in simple tuning nanostructures formation leaving them free from undesirable impurities. The proposed method of nanoarchitecture bases on oriented growth and self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles. The experimental results are a starting point for further investigation of obtained hedgehog-like particles with high surface to volume ratio.