ABSTRACT
Nanomaterials with very specific features (purity, colloidal stability, composition, size, shape, location ) are commonly requested by cutting-edge technologic applications, and hence a sustainable process for the mass-production of tunable/engineered nanomaterials would be desirable. Despite this, tuning nano-scale features when scaling-up the production of nanoparticles/nanomaterials has been considered the main technological barrier for the development of nanotechnology. Aimed at overcoming these challenging frontier, a new gas-phase reactor design providing a shorter residence time, and thus a faster quenching of nanoclusters growth, is proposed for the green, sustainable, versatile, cost-effective, and scalable manufacture of ultrapure engineered nanomaterials (ranging from nanoclusters and nanoalloys to engineered nanostructures) with a tunable degree of agglomeration, composition, size, shape, and location. This method enables: (1) more homogeneous, non-agglomerated ultrapure Au-Ag nanoalloys under 10 nm; (2) 3-nm non-agglomerated ultrapure Au nanoclusters with lower gas flow rates; (3) shape-controlled Ag NPs; and (4) stable Au and Ag engineered nanostructures: nanodisks, nanocrosses, and 3D nanopillars. In conclusion, this new approach paves the way for the green and sustainable mass-production of ultrapure engineered nanomaterials.
ABSTRACT
ZnO can be regarded as one of the most important metal oxide semiconductors for future applications. Similar to silicon in microelectronics, it is not only important to obtain nanoscale building blocks of ZnO, but also extraordinary purity has to be ensured. A new gas-phase approach to obtain size-selected, nanocrystalline ZnO particles is presented. The tetrameric alkyl-alkoxy zinc compound [CH(3)ZnOCH(CH(3))(2)](4) is chemically transformed into ZnO, and the mechanism of gas-phase transformation is studied in detail. Furthermore, the morphological genesis of particles via gas-phase sintering is investigated, and for the first time a detailed model of the gas-phase sintering processes of ZnO is presented. Various analytical techniques (powder XRD, TEM/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, magic-angle spinning NMR spectroscopy, FTIR spectroscopy, etc.) are used to investigate the structure and purity of the samples. In particular, the defect structure of the ZnO was studied by photoluminescence spectroscopy.
