Unexpected Electronic Features of NiO Quantum Dots Produced by Femtosecond Pulsed Laser Ablation in Water

This study examines the effect of quantum confinement and surface orientations on the electronic properties of NiO quantum dots. It compares NiO nanocrystals produced via atmospheric-pressure microplasma and femtosecond laser (fs-laser) ablation in water, finding that both methods yield quantum-confined nanocrystals with a defined face-centered cubic lattice. Notably, fs-laser synthesis generates crystalline nanocrystals from both crystalline and amorphous targets. While the electronic properties, i.e., energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO), of microplasma-synthesized NiO nanocrystals are consistent with the literature, the electronic characteristics of NiO nanocrystals produced by a fs-laser, particularly the high-lying LUMO level, are unusual for NiO quantum dots. Supported by density functional theory calculations, we show that the observed level positions are related to the different polar and nonpolar faces of the nanocrystal surface.