Laser-driven nanomaterials and laser-enabled nanofabrication for industrial applications

Abstract As one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century, laser has enabled many revolutionary technologies and still is pushing forward the development of future technologies. Nanomaterials and nanotechnologies are one of the areas in which laser played significant roles. This chapter provides an overview on the laser-assisted synthesis and processing of a variety of nanomaterials as well as laser-enabled nanofabrication. Fundamental mechanisms behind the laser-matter interactions including pulse laser-induced ionization, low-power laser-induced photochemical and photothermal effects are first introduced. Followed by discussion on laser-based methods for the synthesis of different nanoparticles including laser ablation and laser pyrolysis. Laser-enabled nanofabrication including laser projection nanolithography and laser interference nanolithography are also presented. Since carbon-based nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, nanodiamonds, carbon dots, and graphene quantum dots have been rising as an important family of nanomaterials attracting tremendous attention and laser is one of the driven forces for their dynamic development. Therefore, a separate section is dedicated to reveal the adoption of laser for synthesis and processing of this particular family of nanomaterials. The industrial application perspectives of each of the laser-driven nanomaterials are also introduced across the chapter.