Nb2O5 nano and microspheres fabricated by laser ablation

This work presents a successful and novel method for the preparation of Nb2O5 nanoparticles via pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) by employing a pure Nb plate and deionised water. The effect of various laser fluences on the chemical, structural, morphological and optical characteristics was studied. Chemical characteristics confirmed the formation of the orthorhombic T-Nb2O5 structure. While the morphology characteristics showed spherical particles and its density dependency on the laser fluence. The Nb2O5 stoichiometry ranged between 42.20% and 88.86%. Additionally, the structural analysis showed peaks related to the orthorhombic T-Nb2O5 structure with grain size between 58.2 and 244.6 nm. Lastly, topographical images showed that the average particle size was in the range 6.8 and 32 nm, and sample roughness was between 17.39 and 1.377 nm.