Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis 57 (2001) 109–118 IR laser-induced decomposition of hexamethyldisiloxane for chemical vapour deposition of nano-structured hydrido(methyl)silicone powders Jaroslav Kupc ˇı ´k a , Zdene ˘k Bastl b , Jan S  ubrt c , Josef Pola a, *, Vassilis C. Papadimitriou d , Alexandros V. Prosmitis d , Panos Papagiannakopoulos d a Institute of Chemical Process Fundamentals, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Rozojoa Str. 135, 16502 Prague 6, Czech Republic b J. Heyrosky ´ Institute of Physical Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 18223 Prague 8, Czech Republic c Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 25086 R  ez ˇ near Prague, Czech Republic d Uniersity of Crete, Heraklion 71409, Crete, Greece Received 14 March 2000; accepted 23 June 2000 Abstract The infrared laser-induced decomposition of hexamethyldisiloxane with high-fluence laser pulses affords gaseous C 1 –C 2 hydrocarbons, dimethylsilane and trimethylsilane, all of which confirm a multitude of decomposition steps involving cleavage of the strong SiO bond. The process carried out in the absence or presence of hydrogen affords chemical vapour deposition of solid nano-structured hydrido(methyl)silicone powders and represents the first thermal access to these materials from peralkylated siloxane precursor. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Laser induced decomposition; Chemical vapour deposition; Hexamethyldisiloxane; Hydri- do(methyl)silicone; Pyrolysis www.elsevier.com/locate/jaap * Corresponding author. Tel.: +42-2-24311498; fax: +42-2-20920661. E-mail address: pola@icpf.cas.cz (J. Pola). 0165-2370/01/$ - see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PII:S0165-2370(00)00109-1