ABSTRACT
The introduction of laser ablation in liquid (LAL) was first reported
by Patil and coworkers in 1987, who used a pulsed laser to ablate
a pure iron target in water to form iron oxides with metastable
phases.1 This method involves a solid target being immersed in
a liquid medium and a laser beam is focused through the liquid
onto the target surface. Following their work, Ogale2 extended the
potential of LAL for the surface modification of metals, such as
metallic oxidation, nitriding, and carbiding. This pioneering work
opened new routes for processing of materials based on the laser
ablation of solids in various liquids. Since then, LAL has become a
successful material fabrication technique, allowing versatile design
through choosing suitable solid targets and confining liquids.
Compared to conventional physical methods (including chemical
vapor deposition,3 vapor phase transport,4 and pulsed laser abla-
tion in vacuum5) and chemical methods (including hydrothermal
methods,6 soft-template,7 and use of various surfactants8,9), the
technique of LAL has many distinct advantages. These include (i)
a chemically “simple and clean” synthesis as the final product
is usually obtained without byproducts and there is no need for
further purification; (ii) low cost of experimental setup and easily
controlled parameters; and (iii) the extreme confined conditions and
induced high-temperature, high-pressure region favor the formation
of unusual metastable phases. These advantages allow the designer
to combine selected solid targets and liquids to fabricate compound
nanostructures with desired functions.
