Schimmoeller B., Massey K., Kodas T., Smith G., Kutsovsky Y.
Cabot Corporation, US
Keywords: aerosol, Li-ion batteries, non-oxide ceramics, silicon, sodium-reduction
The largest volumes of nano-particles in consumer products include carbon black for reinforcement applications (e.g. tires), silicon dioxide (SiO2) as rheology agent (e.g. silicones) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) in pigments and photocatalysts. All of those are manufactured on large scale via gas-phase aerosol synthesis. Such flame processes, however, are usually run under oxidizing conditions and result in oxide particles. The production of pure metal or non-oxide ceramics (e.g. nitrides or carbides) in a gas phase reactor under reducing conditions, however, has so far not been investigated much. Here, a scalable and flexible gas-phase sodium reduction reactor platform was used to synthesize pure silicon, tin-doped silicon, silicon carbide, titanium nitride and titanium carbide particles with high surface areas. Potential applications of such materials are plentiful and include capacitors, Li-ion batteries, catalysts, hard coatings, 3D printable materials and thermoelectrics just to name a few.
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 1, Nanotechnology 2014: Graphene, CNTs, Particles, Films & Composites
Published: June 15, 2014
Pages: 88 - 89
Industry sector: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing
Topic: Nanoparticle Synthesis & Applications
ISBN: 978-1-4822-5826-4