Femtosecond laser fragmentation from water-dispersed microcolloids: toward fast controllable growth of ultrapure Si-based nanomaterials for biological applications

International audience; An ultrashort laser-assisted method for fast production of concentrated aqueous solutions of ultrapure Si-based colloidal nanoparticles is reported. The method profits from the 3D geometry of femtosecond laser ablation of water-dispersed microscale colloids, prepared preliminarily by the mechanical milling of a Si wafer, in order to avoid strong concentration gradients in the ablated material and provide similar conditions of nanocluster growth within a relatively large laser caustics volume. We demonstrate the possibility for the fast synthesis of non-aggregated, low-size-dispersed, crystalline Si-based nanoparticles, whose size and surface oxidation can be controll…