Ultrafast laser has been widely used in machinery manufacturing, biomedicine, energy and other fields owing to its ultrashort pulse duration and ultrahigh peak power. Ultrafast laser possesses some advantages in the processing of nanomaterials and micro/nano functional devices. It is essential to fabricate complex micro/nano architectures for practical applications.

Recently, a strategy of laser plasmonic fabrication based on glue molecule modulation that can assemble metal nanocrystals into interconnected pattern networks was proposed. The plasmonic response of nanocrystals is modulated by surface molecules, which is beneficial for the effective formation of laser-induced localized oscillating electrons. It is demonstrated that the complex architectures can be controllably constructed by molecule level modulation. Through molecule-assisted laser plasmonic fabrication, the functional nanocrystals with enhanced photothermal capacity can be used for information encryption and soft machinery. This work expands the knowledge of bottom-up fabrication and provides a method for designing functional nanocrystals for a wide range of applications.

Ultrafast laser plasmonic lithograph of nanocrystals by glue molecule modulation for photoresponse multifunctional structures

This work was published in Advanced Materials with the title “Ultrafast laser plasmonic fabrication of nanocrystals by molecule modulation for photoresponse multifunctional structures” (Back cover). Dezhi Zhu, a 2018 PhD candidate from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University, is the first author of the paper. The corresponding author of the paper is Associate Professor Jianfeng Yan from Department of Mechanical Engineering at Tsinghua University. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Article link: https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202211983 

Editor: Li Han