Femtosecond-laser nanostructuring of black diamond films under different gas environments

Year: 2020

Authors: Girolami M., Bellucci A., Mastellone M., Orlando S., Serpente V., Valentini V., Polini R., Sani E., De Caro T., Trucchi D. M.

Sani E.,

Autors Affiliation: 1 DiaTHEMA Lab, Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISM–CNR),
Sede Secondaria di Montelibretti, Via Salaria km 29,300, Monterotondo Stazione, 00015 Roma, Italy;
alessandro.bellucci@ism.cnr.it (A.B.); matteo.mastellone@ism.cnr.it (M.M.); valerio.serpente@ism.cnr.it (V.S.);
veronica.valentini@ism.cnr.it (V.V.); daniele.trucchi@ism.cnr.it (D.M.T.)
2 Dipartimento di Scienze di Base ed Applicate per l’Ingegneria, Università di Roma “La Sapienza”,
Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185 Roma, Italy
3 Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISM–CNR),
Sede Secondaria di Tito Scalo, Area Industriale–Contrada S. Loia, Tito Scalo, 85050 Potenza, Italy;
stefano.orlando@ism.cnr.it
4 Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche, Università di Roma “Tor Vergata”,
Via della Ricerca Scientifica 1, 00133 Roma, Italy; polini@uniroma2.it
5 Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO–CNR), Largo E. Fermi,
50125 Firenze, Italy; elisa.sani@ino.it
6 Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISMN–

Abstract: Irradiation of diamond with femtosecond (fs) laser pulses in ultra-high vacuum (UHV)
conditions results in the formation of surface periodic nanostructures able to strongly interact
with visible and infrared light. As a result, native transparent diamond turns into a completely
di erent material, namely “black” diamond, with outstanding absorptance properties in the solar
radiation wavelength range, which can be eciently exploited in innovative solar energy converters.
Of course, even if extremely e ective, the use of UHV strongly complicates the fabrication process.
In this work, in order to pave the way to an easier and more cost-e ective manufacturing workflow
of black diamond, we demonstrate that it is possible to ensure the same optical properties as
those of UHV-fabricated films by performing an fs-laser nanostructuring at ambient conditions
(i.e., room temperature and atmospheric pressure) under a constant He flow, as inferred from the
combined use of scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and spectrophotometry analysis.
Conversely, if the laser treatment is performed under a compressed air flow, or a N2 flow, the optical
properties of black diamond films are not comparable to those of their UHV-fabricated counterparts.

Journal/Review: MATERIALS

Volume: 13 (24)      Pages from: 5761-1  to: 5761-12

KeyWords: femtosecond laser; diamond; black diamond; nanostructures; optical properties;
Raman spectroscopy; solar absorptance
DOI: 10.3390/ma13245761