Laser-induced galfenol embedded multi-layer graphene-oxide in solution

The proposed work demonstrates the direct synthesis of nanomaterial-embedded laser-induced few-layer graphene-oxide by directly ablating galfenol in a water-based solution for the first time. Laser-induced multilayer graphene-oxide (GO) embedded with galfenol (gallium–iron alloy) nanoparticles (NPs) is created through a method of direct laser inscription of bulk galfenol in deionized (DI) water with femtosecond laser ablation. The NP-embedded GO is achieved by irradiating a near-infrared (near-IR) femtosecond laser at 1040 nm on a bulk galfenol material submerged in a solution comprising DI water and a small concentration (5%/wt.) of polyvinylpyrrolidone followed by a second ablation in pure DI water. Results show nanoparticles with a mean diameter of ∼30 nm embedded in GO sheets with visible folds spaced at ∼0.63 nm. The composition of iron and gallium shifts by less than 2% during the laser ablation process, and the few-layer GO sheets exhibit similar Raman peaks to bulk graphite.