Generation of ultra-small InN nanocrystals by pulsed laser ablation of suspension in organic solution

Abstract

Nanostructures of InN have been extensively investigated since nano-size provides a number of advantages allowing applications in nanoscale electronic and optoelectronic devices. It is quite important to obtain pure InN nanocrystals (InN-NCs) to reveal the characteristic features, which gain interest in the literature. Here, we proposed a new approach for the synthesis of ultra-small hexagonal InN-NCs by using suspension of micron-sized InN powder in ethanol with pulsed laser ablation method. The liquid environment, laser energy and ablation time were optimized and a post-synthesis treatment, centrifugation, was performed to achieve InN-NCs with the smallest size. Besides, the micron-sized InN powder suspension, as a starting material, enabled us to obtain InN-NCs having diameters smaller than 5 nm. We also presented a detailed characterization of InN-NCs and demonstrated that the formation mechanism mainly depends on the fragmentation due to laser irradiation of the suspension.