Laser-induced ablative amorphization of montmorillonite

Abstract Infrared laser irradiation of montmorillonite results in ablation and deposition of amorphous adhering films which do not possess interlayer structure of initial bulk montmorillonite and consist of agglomerated dehydrated nano- and micrometer-sized particles. The films were examined by electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. It is shown that the laser-induced process leads to a complete amorphization of ejected particles and results in different morphologies of irradiated sites and deposited films at different laser energies. The process may find more interest in using it for fabrication of clay nanocomposites and nanostructured clay films.