The aim of this experimental work was to investigate the influence of the ion beam charge state on damage production in nanomaterials. To achieve this, we employed Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy to investigate nanomaterials irradiated by a 23 MeV I beam. We found a significant influence of the ion charge state on damage production in monolayer graphene, but found no evidence of this effect in bilayer and trilayer graphene, nor in graphite. Furthermore, we found no evidence of this effect in CaF₂ and SiO₂ nanocrystals irradiated with the same ion beam.

Both silicon and graphite are radiation hard materials with respect to swift heavy ions like fission fragments and cosmic rays. Recrystallisation is considered to be the main mechanism of prompt damage anneal in these two materials, resulting in negligible amounts of damage produced, even when exposed to high ion fluences. In this work we present evidence that these two materials could be susceptible to swift heavy ion irradiation effects even at low energies. In the case of silicon, ion channeling and electron microscopy measurements reveal significant recovery of pre-existing defects when exposed to a swift heavy ion beam. In the case of graphite, by using ion channeling, Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, we found that the surface of the material is more prone to irradiation damage than the bulk.

High-energy heavy ion irradiation can produce permanent damage in the target material if the density of deposited energy surpasses a material-dependent threshold value. It is known that this threshold can be lowered in the vicinity of the surface or in the presence of defects. In the present study, we established threshold values for Al₂O₃, MgO and CaF₂ under the above-mentioned conditions, and found those values to be much lower than expected. By means of atomic force microscopy and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry in channelling mode, we present evidence that ion beams with values of 3 MeV O and 5 MeV Si, despite the low density of deposited energy along the ion trajectory, can modify the structure of investigated materials. The obtained results should be relevant for radiation hardness studies because, during high-energy ion irradiation, unexpected damage build-up can occur under similar conditions.

Self-assembly of colloidal monolayers represents a prominent approach to the fabrication of nanostructures. The modification of the shape of colloidal particles is essential in order to enrich the variety of attainable patterns which would be limited by the typical assembly of spherical particles in a hexagonal arrangement. Polymer particles are particularly promising in this sense. In this article, we investigate the deformation of closely-packed polystyrene particles under MeV oxygen ion irradiation at normal incidence using atomic force microscopy (AFM). By developing a procedure based on the fitting of particle topography with quadrics, we reveal a scenario of deformation more complex than the one observed in previous studies for silica particles, where several phenomena, including ion hammering, sputtering, chemical modifications, can intervene in determining the final shape due to the specific irradiation conditions. In particular, deformation into an ellipsoidal shape is accompanied by shrinkage and polymer redistribution with the presence of necks between particles for increasing ion fluence. In addition to casting light on particle irradiation in a regime not yet explored, we present an effective method for the characterization of the colloidal particle morphology which can be applied to describe and understand particle deformation in other regimes of irradiation or with different techniques.