Laser ablation in liquids for shape-tailored synthesis of nanomaterials: status and challenges

• Natalie Tarasenka

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1963–1997, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.137

• manipulating the formed seed NPs to induce their anisotropic growth and assembly. 1.2 Cavitation bubble formation, expansion, and collapse Since plasma plume is confined by a liquid, the subsequent processes involve plasma rapid expansion and cooling by energy transfer to the surrounding liquid, resulting in

• generation of shockwaves and formation of cavitation bubbles, which typically have a lifetime of several microseconds. During its evolution, the cavitation bubble expands to reach the equilibrium with the confining liquid, after which the shrinking stage begins, which involves the ablated material moving

• closer to the target surface. It is typically accepted that release of NPs from the cavitation bubble into a liquid occurs during later stages of cavitation bubble collapse. The latest reports by Dell’Aglio et al. [7], however, demonstrate that particle ejection into a liquid occurs mainly in two steps

Influence of laser beam profile on morphology and optical properties of silicon nanoparticles formed by laser ablation in liquid

• Natalie Tarasenka,
• Vladislav Kornev,
• Alena Nevar and
• Nikolai Tarasenko

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1533–1544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.108

• -uniform energy distribution, which will affect plasma generation and confinement, the hydrodynamic trajectory of the ejected target material and pressure relaxation, as well as plasma and cavitation bubble propagation and temporal evolution. In the case of a Bessel beam, the focusing with an axicon

• surface [27] with different plasma parameters than in the plasma generated by a Gaussian beam. A change of the incident beam pattern will change the temperature and pressure inside cavitation bubbles (CBs) and influence CB oscillations. Furthermore, pressure variations at the target interface would be

Ferroptosis induction by engineered liposomes for enhanced tumor therapy

• Alireza Ghasempour,
• Mohammad Amin Tokallou,
• Mohammad Reza Naderi Allaf,
• Mohsen Moradi,
• Hamideh Dehghan,
• Mahsa Sedighi,
• Mohammad-Ali Shahbazi and
• Fahimeh Lavi Arab

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1325–1349, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.97

Wavelength-dependent correlation of LIPSS periodicity and laser penetration depth in stainless steel

• Nitin Chaudhary,
• Chavan Akash Naik,
• Shilpa Mangalassery,
• Jai Prakash Gautam and
• Sri Ram Gopal Naraharisetty

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1302–1315, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.95

• -organization [33] to second harmonic generation [11] and cavitation instability [23][50][51]. Despite numerous studies, the formation mechanism of HSFL and the reason for their shorter periodicity compared to the laser wavelength remain elusive. Our previous work addressed this gap by patterning a single line

Crystalline and amorphous structure selectivity of ignoble high-entropy alloy nanoparticles during laser ablation in organic liquids is set by pulse duration

• Robert Stuckert,
• Felix Pohl,
• Oleg Prymak,
• Ulrich Schürmann,
• Christoph Rehbock,
• Lorenz Kienle and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1141–1159, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.84

Piezoelectricity of hexagonal boron nitrides improves bone tissue generation as tested on osteoblasts

• Sevin Adiguzel,
• Nilay Cicek,
• Zehra Cobandede,
• Feray B. Misirlioglu,
• Hulya Yilmaz and
• Mustafa Culha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1068–1081, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.78

• . Although applying US to the environment is a noninvasive mechanical stimulation, it may still cause acoustic streaming, acoustic microstreaming, and cavitation. This mechanical effect may cause fluid flow in the extracellular environment, creating temporary membrane deformation and tension on osteoblasts

Time-resolved probing of laser-induced nanostructuring processes in liquids

• Maximilian Spellauge,
• David Redka,
• Mianzhen Mo,
• Changyong Song,
• Heinz Paul Huber and
• Anton Plech

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 968–1002, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.74

• to melting, reshaping (Figure 1B,C), evaporation, and phase explosion near the critical point (Figure 1H) [39][46][47][48]; (ii) stress-induced decompositions, where competition between heating and expansion leads to spallation or cavitation [36][49][50] (Figure 1I); (iii) non-thermal processes

Shape, membrane morphology, and morphodynamic response of metabolically active human mitochondria revealed by scanning ion conductance microscopy

• Eric Lieberwirth,
• Anja Schaeper,
• Regina Lange,
• Ingo Barke,
• Simone Baltrusch and
• Sylvia Speller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 951–967, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.73

• investigated mitochondria was analysed by microscopy and oxygen consumption measurement. Figure 1 shows isolated mitochondria by nitrogen cavitation [34] and subsequently labelled by MitoTracker™ Green FM (MTG, Figure 1a) and tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester perchlorate (TMRE, Figure 1b). TMRE accumulates only

• via mechanochemical pathway (left bars) show no significant difference in average mitochondrial volume between metabolically active and fixed mitochondria at a 95% confidence level. In contrast, mitochondria isolated through nitrogen cavitation (right bars) demonstrated a statistically significant

• stability contrasts with the structural alterations reported with more violent techniques, such as deformability cytometry [37]. For mitochondria isolated using the nitrogen cavitation method, fixed mitochondria exhibit significantly smaller dimensions (Figure 4b). The reduction in size can be explained by

Supramolecular hydration structure of graphene-based hydrogels: density functional theory, green chemistry and interface application

• Hon Nhien Le,
• Duy Khanh Nguyen,
• Minh Triet Dang,
• Huyen Trinh Nguyen,
• Thi Bang Tam Dao,
• Trung Do Nguyen,
• Chi Nhan Ha Thuc and
• Van Hieu Le

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 806–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.61

• exhibits the aqueous dispersions derived from the sonication of GO-SG-ZH hydrogel and powder in water (see Supporting Information File 1, Figure S3). Ultrasound waves vibrated water molecules and created cavitation in the hydrogel structure, leading to the exfoliation of graphene-based nanosheets in water

Morphology and properties of pyrite nanoparticles obtained by pulsed laser ablation in liquid and thin films for photodetection

• Akshana Parameswaran Sreekala,
• Bindu Krishnan,
• Rene Fabian Cienfuegos Pelaes,
• David Avellaneda Avellaneda,
• Josué Amílcar Aguilar-Martínez and
• Sadasivan Shaji

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 785–805, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.60

• surrounding liquid results in a cavitation bubble which is a thin layer of vapor of the surrounding liquid, as well as some material evaporating from the target. Some of the crucial elements influencing the formation of the cavitation bubble are the liquid environment, a stronger confinement of the plasma

• the release of a second shockwave, which causes the cavitation bubble to expand in the liquid before collapsing on a time period of hundreds of microseconds releasing NPs in the liquid resulting in stable colloidal solution [15][39]. Despite the proposed laser ablation mechanism, there are

Size control of nanoparticles synthesized by pulsed laser ablation in liquids using donut-shaped beams

• Abdel Rahman Altakroury,
• Oleksandr Gatsa,
• Farbod Riahi,
• Zongwen Fu,
• Miroslava Flimelová,
• Andrei Samokhvalov,
• Stephan Barcikowski,
• Carlos Doñate-Buendía,
• Alexander V. Bulgakov and
• Bilal Gökce

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 407–417, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.31

• the donut-shaped laser beam. We performed time-resolved shadowgraph imaging of the laser-induced cavitation bubble, revealing a toroidal structure that overruns the ring-shaped ablation site, compared to the quasi-hemispherical bubble covering the ablation spot produced by the Gaussian beam. Based on

• this pioneering study, further investigation with higher temporal and spatial resolution are warranted. Keywords: beam shaping; cavitation bubble; donut beam; gold nanoparticles; high-entropy alloy nanoparticles; nanoparticle size analysis; yttrium oxide nanoparticles; Introduction The demand for

• ). The plasma temperature and pressure determine the cavitation bubble and NP formation [40][41]. The plasma plume that heats up the liquid causes liquid vaporization and subsequent bubble nucleation. The initial pressure of the bubble is very high (higher than 1 GPa) allowing it to expand until it

Preferential enrichment and extraction of laser-synthesized nanoparticles in organic phases

• Theo Fromme,
• Maximilian L. Spiekermann,
• Florian Lehmann,
• Stephan Barcikowski,
• Thomas Seidensticker and
• Sven Reichenberger

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 254–263, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.20

• that chemical reactions may also occur on longer timescales, during the cavitation bubble phase (microsecond time scale) [60]. The smaller iron nanoparticles are found in the alcohol phase, while the smaller copper nanoparticles prefer the propylene carbonate phase. Hence, another explanation for the

Recent advances in photothermal nanomaterials for ophthalmic applications

• Jiayuan Zhuang,
• Linhui Jia,
• Chenghao Li,
• Rui Yang,
• Jiapeng Wang,
• Wen-an Wang,
• Heng Zhou and
• Xiangxia Luo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 195–215, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.16

• , providing additional histological information. In addition to applying the photoacoustic effect to photoacoustic imaging, laser-induced focused ultrasound can also be used to perform high-precision cavitation ablation treatments of ocular tissues [208]. Conclusion Research on photothermal nanomaterials has

Fabrication of hafnium-based nanoparticles and nanostructures using picosecond laser ablation

• Abhishek Das,
• Mangababu Akkanaboina,
• Jagannath Rathod,
• R. Sai Prasad Goud,
• Kanaka Ravi Kumar,
• Raghu C. Reddy,
• Ratheesh Ravendran,
• Katia Vutova,
• S. V. S. Nageswara Rao and
• Venugopal Rao Soma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1639–1653, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.129

• liquid medium. The target material absorbs the pulse energy via the electrons. It transfers it to the lattice, which expulses the surface material as a plasma plume confined because of the pressure created by the surrounding liquid [16][20][23][24]. A cavitation bubble is formed as the energy is

• transferred to the surrounding liquid from the decaying plasma because of the existing temperature differences between the liquid and the plasma plume, leading to the emergence of a vapour layer with a volume equivalent to the plasma plume [16][20][23][24]. The cavitation bubble collapses because of cyclic

• liquid exceeds the vapour pressure exerted by HfO2, the cavitation bubble collapses, and the vapour rushes through the liquid in the form of a jet [23][24][41]. The lower temperature of the surrounding liquid leads to the formation of nuclei [23][42][43] with random crystallographic orientation, which

Biomimetic nanocarriers: integrating natural functions for advanced therapeutic applications

• Hugo Felix Perini,
• Beatriz Sodré Matos,
• Carlo José Freire de Oliveira and
• Marcos Vinicius da Silva

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1619–1626, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.127

• membrane vesicles are prepared, fusion with the nanocarrier can be accomplished by several methods [20][42]. Bath sonication disrupts membranes by forming cavitation bubbles, allowing them to reassemble around the nanocarrier. Optimizing this process requires adjusting exposure time, wave frequency, and

Effect of wavelength and liquid on formation of Ag, Au, Ag/Au nanoparticles via picosecond laser ablation and SERS-based detection of DMMP

• Sree Satya Bharati Moram,
• Chandu Byram and
• Venugopal Rao Soma

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 1054–1069, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.86

• with water. The expanding metal/water mixture promotes rapid nucleation and growth of small metal NPs and contributes to forming a cavitation bubble. The hot metal layer also breaks into larger droplets due to instabilities, creating NPs of different sizes within a few nanoseconds of laser exposure [6

Laser synthesis of nanoparticles in organic solvents – products, reactions, and perspectives

• Theo Fromme,
• Sven Reichenberger,
• Katharine M. Tibbetts and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 638–663, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.54

• synthesis of HCN [79]. The oxidation and phase change of the target surface during LAL was initially published by Ogale et al. [80] in 1987, and nanoparticle oxidation has been addressed in the literature frequently afterwards [53][54][68][69][70]. During the plasma and cavitation bubble phase, reactive

• efficiency and gas formation. Scaramuzza et al. found varying ablation rates and cavitation bubble sizes depending on the used additive–solvent combination [20], and Zhang et al. found higher yields of gases when working in ethanol–water mixtures [44]. This enhanced gas production can be used to alter the

• structure of the generated nanoparticles. Laser ablation in water–ethanol mixtures was reported to yield an increased amount of hollow nanoparticles compared to pure water, which was mainly attributed to an elongated lifetime of the cavitation bubble in the mixture [89][90]. It is further possible to form

Plasmonic nanotechnology for photothermal applications – an evaluation

• A. R. Indhu,
• L. Keerthana and
• Gnanaprakash Dharmalingam

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 380–419, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.33

• [83]. Plasmonic nanobubbles (formed when the irradiation fluence exceeded a threshold value), although being excellent tunable scatterers themselves, did not result in thermal phenomena such as heating and only led to mechanical phenomena such as cavitation effects. Explosive boiling is of explicit

Bismuth-based nanostructured photocatalysts for the remediation of antibiotics and organic dyes

• Akeem Adeyemi Oladipo and
• Faisal Suleiman Mustafa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 291–321, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.26

• -photochemical techniques, such as chemical, radiation-induced, cavitation, electrochemical techniques, and photochemical processes [11][15][16][17]. One of the AOPs, photocatalysis, uses natural light – a resource that is both clean and recyclable – to completely degrade a variety of organic pollutants and

Non-stoichiometric magnetite as catalyst for the photocatalytic degradation of phenol and 2,6-dibromo-4-methylphenol – a new approach in water treatment

• Joanna Kisała,
• Anna Tomaszewska and
• Przemysław Kolek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 1531–1540, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.126

• regulations to them [8]. Consequently, there is a growing need to develop processes for removing BPs from wastewater. In recent decades, much attention has been paid to advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in the research and development of wastewater treatment technologies [7][9]. Processes such as cavitation

Reliable fabrication of transparent conducting films by cascade centrifugation and Langmuir–Blodgett deposition of electrochemically exfoliated graphene

• Teodora Vićentić,
• Stevan Andrić,
• Vladimir Rajić and
• Marko Spasenović

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 666–674, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.58

• the range of 1–10 layers, in a range of different liquids, at a wide range of concentrations [13][14]. The mechanism of ultrasonic exfoliation involves ultrasonic waves in liquid media creating bubbles or voids in the liquid, which generate shear forces or cavitation bubbles upon collapsing, which

Comprehensive review on ultrasound-responsive theranostic nanomaterials: mechanisms, structures and medical applications

• Sepand Tehrani Fateh,
• Lida Moradi,
• Elmira Kohan,
• Michael R. Hamblin and
• Amin Shiralizadeh Dezfuli

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 808–862, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.64

• modality, it is attractive to combine it with rationally designed nanoparticles for theranostics. The mechanisms of US interactions include cavitation microbubbles (MBs), acoustic droplet vaporization, acoustic radiation force, localized thermal effects, reactive oxygen species generation, sonoluminescence

• their cargo in response to locally elevated temperatures [24]. Under some circumstances, small mechanical displacements of the tissue can result in nucleation, growth, and collapse of gas bubbles in a process known as acoustic cavitation, which is responsible for drug release from some structures [27

• quest for more potent treatment and diagnostic procedures. In this review, the mechanisms of action of US-responsive nanomaterials, including cavitation, acoustic radiation force (ARF), phase transition, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and hyperthermia will be discussed in the first step. A

Antimicrobial metal-based nanoparticles: a review on their synthesis, types and antimicrobial action

• Matías Guerrero Correa,
• Fernanda B. Martínez,
• Cristian Patiño Vidal,
• Camilo Streitt,
• Juan Escrig and
• Carol Lopez de Dicastillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 1450–1469, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.129

• cavitation that can be used for the production or modification of a wide range of nanostructured materials. Some examples are spherical Ag [63] and CuO NPs [65], and square-shaped CeO2 NPs [64]. The main advantage of this technique is the simplicity in maintaining the operating conditions (ambient conditions

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

Ultrasonication-assisted synthesis of CsPbBr₃ and Cs₄PbBr₆ perovskite nanocrystals and their reversible transformation

• Longshi Rao,
• Xinrui Ding,
• Xuewei Du,
• Guanwei Liang,
• Yong Tang,
• Kairui Tang and
• Jin Z. Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 666–676, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.66

• performance when the immersion height of the vibrating spear is set at 1/5 of the total liquid height. Ultrasonication results in a combination of thermal, vibrational, and acoustic cavitation, i.e., the formation, growth, and implosive collapse of bubbles in liquids [32][33][34]. In the center of these