Rhenium/rhenium oxide nanoparticles production using femtosecond pulsed laser ablation in liquid

In this study, rhenium/rhenium oxide nanoparticles (Re / ReO₃ NPs) have been produced for the first time in ultrapure water by using Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Ablation in Liquid (fsPLAL) method. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) measurements and results obtained for NPs show the existence of well-crystallized peaks and preferred phases. Re NPs have hexagonal structure while ReO₃ NPs have the perovskite-like cubic crystal structures. The Re / ReO₃ ratio is also determined to be 53 / 47 with ~ 20 nm crystallite size, while pure ReO₃ crystallite sizes were measured to be ~ 25 nm. The TEM results have shown that the produced particles have a spherical shape, and particle sizes changes between ~ 20 nm and ~ 60 nm. The crystallite size is similar due to XRD results. Obtained nanoparticles exhibit promising applications for photonic devices with broad bandgap values which have measured to be 4.71 eV for Re / ReO₃ NPs mixture and 4.36 eV for pure ReO₃ NPs.