A facile preparation route for netlike microstructures on a stainless steel using an ethanol-mediated femtosecond laser irradiation

Netlike or porous microstructures are highly desirable in metal implants and biomedical monitoring applications. However, realization of such microstructures remains technically challenging. Here, we report a facile and environmentally friendly method to prepare netlike microstructures on a stainless steel by taking the full advantage of the liquid-mediated femtosecond laser ablation. An unordered netlike structure and a quasi-ordered array of holes can be fabricated on the surface of stainless steel via an ethanol-mediated femtosecond laser line-scan method. SEM analysis of the surface morphology indicates that the porous netlike structure is in the micrometer scale and the diameter of the quasi-ordered holes ranges from 280 nm to 320 nm. Besides, we find that the obtained structures are tunable by altering the laser processing parameters especially scanning speed.

► A fabrication method of an unordered netlike structure and a quasi-ordered array of holes on metallic surface is developed.
► The porous netlike structure is in the micrometer scale.
► The diameter of the quasi-ordered holes ranges from 280 nm to 320 nm.
► The obtained structures are tunable by altering the laser scanning speed.