Enhancement of photocatalytic activity by femtosecond-laser induced periodic surface structures of Si

Laser induced periodic surface structures(LIPSS)represent a kind of top down approach to produce highly reproducible nano/microstructures without going for any sophisticated process of lithography.This method is much simpler and cost effective.In this work,LIPSS on Si surfaces were generated using femtosecond laser pulses of 800 nm wavelength.Photocatalytic substrates were prepared by depositing TiO2 thin films on top of the structured and unstructured Si wafer.The coatings were produced by sputtering from a Ti target in two different types of oxygen atmospheres.In first case,the oxygen pressure within the sputtering chamber was chosen to be high(3×10^–2 mbar)whereas it was one order of magnitude lower in second case(2.1×10^–3 mbar).In photocatalytic dye decomposition study of Methylene blue dye it was found that in the presence of LIPSS the activity can be enhanced by 2.1 and 3.3 times with high pressure and low pressure grown TiO2 thin films,respectively.The increase in photocatalytic activity is attributed to the enlargement of effective surface area.In comparative study,the dye decomposition rates of TiO2 thin films grown on LIPSS are found to be much higher than the value for standard reference thin film material Pilkington Activ^TM.

Laser ablation and structuring of CdZnTe with femtosecond laser pulses

We report an experimental investigation on laser ablation and associated surface structuring of CdZnTe by femtosecond Ti:Sa laser pulses(laser wavelengthλ≈800 nm,≈35 fs,10 Hz),in air.By exploiting different static irradiation conditions,the fluence threshold and the incubation effect in CdZnTe are estimated.Interestingly,surface treatment with a low laser fluence(laser pulse energy E≈5-10_μJ)and number of shots(5<N<50)show the formation of well-defined cracks in the central part of the shallow crater,which is likely associated to a different thermal expansion coefficients of Te inclusions and matrix during the sample heating and cooling processes ensuing femtosecond laser irradiation.Irradiation with a larger number of pulses(N≈500,1000)with higher pulse energies(E≈30-50μJ)results in the formation of welldefined laser-induced periodic surface structures(LIPSS)in the outskirts of the main crater,where the local fluence is well below the material ablation threshold.Both low spatial frequency and high spatial frequency LIPSS perpendicular to the laser polarization are found together and separately depending on the irradiation condition.These are ascribed to a process of progressive aggregation of randomly distributed nanoparticles produced during laser ablation of the deep crater in the region of the target irradiated by a fluence below the ablation threshold with many laser pulses.

Plasmonic nano-printing: large-area nanoscale energy deposition for efficient surface texturing

The lossy nature of plasmonic wave due to absorption is shown to become an advantage for scaling-up a large area surface nanotexturing of transparent dielectrics and semiconductors by a self-organized sub-wavelength energy deposition leading to an ablation pattern—ripples—using this plasmonic nano-printing.Irreversible nanoscale modifications are delivered by surface plasmon polariton(SPP)using:(i)fast scan and(ii)cylindrical focusing of femtosecond laser pulses for a high patterning throughput.The mechanism of ripple formation on ZnS dielectric is experimentally proven to occur via surface wave at the substrate–plasma interface.The line focusing increase the ordering quality of ripples and facilitates fabrication over wafer-sized areas within a practical time span.Nanoprinting using SPP is expected to open new applications in photo-catalysis,tribology,and solar light harvesting via localized energy deposition rather scattering used in photonic and sensing applications based on re-scattering of SPP modes into far-field modes.