Laser Interactions for the Synthesis and In Situ Diagnostics of Nanomaterials

Laser interactions have traditionall been at thec center of nanomaterials science, providing highly nonequilibrium growth conditions to enable the syn- thesis of novel new nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanowires with metastable phases. Simultaneously, lasers provide unique opportunities for the remote char- acterization of nanomaterial size, structure, and composition through tunable laser spectroscopy, scattering, and imaging. Pulsed lasers offer the opportunity, there- fore, to supply the required energy and excitation to both control and understand the growth processes of nanomaterials, providing valuable views of the typically nonequilibrium growth kinetics and intermediates involved. Here we illustrate the key challenges and progress in laser interactions for the synthesis and in situ diagnostics of nanomaterials through recent examples involving primarily carbon nanomaterials, including the pulsed growth of carbon nanotubes and graphene

SixC1 12xO2 alloys: A possible route to stabilize carbon-based silica-like solids?

Novel extended tetrahedral forms Of CO2 have been synthesized recently under high-pressure conditions. We perform ab initio density functional theory calculations to investigate whether doping with Si can extend the stability range of such tetrahedral forms Of CO2 to ambient pressure. Calculations are performed with a simple cubic cell containing eight formula units in alpha-cristobalite-like structure. Though we find that all the SiC1-xO2 structures considered by us are thermodynamically unstable with respect to decomposition into the end members at ambient pressures, the energy differences are small, suggesting that it might be possible for such phases to exist in metastable forms. At higher pressures, the heat of formation is found to be negative. The bonding between C and O atoms is more covalent than that between Si and 0 atoms. We also find indications that some C atoms may prefer three-fold coordination at low pressur