Reactive laser ablation in liquid synthesis of aluminosilicate nanominerals

Nanoscale aluminosilicate minerals have wide ranging applications in areas including catalysis, environmental remediation, and medicine. This work reports a reactive laser ablation in liquid (RLAL) synthetic route to aluminosilicate nanominerals that enables facile tuning of their elemental composition, crystallinity, and morphology. Both the precursor solution pH and the choice of base used to adjust the pH were found to determine the properties of the nanominerals produced by laser ablation of a silicon target in aqueous solution of aluminum nitrate. Addition of ammonia produced amorphous phases with fiber- or tube-like morphologies and high aluminum content under alkaline conditions. In contrast, the addition of potassium hydroxide produced highly crystalline quasi-spherical particles, with numerous aluminum silicate and potassium aluminum silicate phases. These results show that manipulation of the precursor solution chemistry for RLAL can produce aluminosilicate nanominerals with a wide range of properties, demonstrating the flexibility of RLAL for synthesis of tailored nanominerals for specific applications.