Temperature-dependent structure–property relationships of boron nanoparticles synthesized via dual-pulsed laser ablation

Boron nanoparticles (BNPs) have attracted considerable interest because of their unique physicochemical properties and potential applications in advanced functional materials. In this study, crystalline BNPs were synthesized at 450, 550, and 650 °C using a dual-pulsed laser ablation (DPLA) technique to investigate the influence of synthesis temperature on their structural, morphological, optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the formation of phase-pure crystalline α-boron with preferential growth along the (100) plane, while electron microscopy revealed uniformly distributed nanoparticles with average sizes decreasing from 6.24 to 1.49 nm as the synthesis temperature increased. Optical measurements showed strong UV absorption and direct bandgap energies of 3.72–3.80 eV, accompanied by photoluminescence emission peaks between 550 and 570 nm. Electrical conductivity increased with synthesis temperature, reaching 4.98 S cm⁻¹ for BNPs synthesized at 650 °C, indicating enhanced charge transport, while FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of boron-related surface functional groups. These results demonstrate that synthesis temperature is a key parameter governing the structure–property relationships of DPLA-derived BNPs and provides an effective strategy for tailoring their properties for future nanoelectronic, sensing, and energy-related applications. Overall, the combination of these multifunctional properties suggests that the measured physicochemical properties may make the BNPs promising candidates for future investigation in biomedicine, biosensing, neutron capture therapy, drug delivery, tissue engineering, as well as hydrogen and energy storage systems, although these applications were not evaluated in the present study.