Vapor–Liquid–Solid (VLS) Growth of NiCl2 Nanotubes via Reactive Gas Laser Ablation

Active laser ablation has been used for the synthesis of NiCl2 nanotubes and fullerene-like nanoparticles (see Figure). Spectroscopic measurements on the structures showed that the NiCl2 layers in the nanotubes were quite perfectly crystalline. The growth is thought to occur via a vapor–liquid–solid mechanism through which many different, surprising shapes have been obtained.