Method for generating high purity and finely dispersed nanoparticles by inductive local heating

Abstract

The objective of this document is to introduce a novel method for generating high-purity aerosol nanoparticles of well-defined size and chemical composition to use as building blocks in nanomaterial synthesis for various applications. The method employs inductive heating to produce metal vapors from a target electrode, which are subsequently carried away and cooled down by a gas stream to yield atomic clusters and nanoparticles (singlets and agglomerates) by nucleation and subsequent growth by condensation and coagulation. The novelty of the method relies on the fact that the only material in the heating zone is the target electrode, avoiding any holders which can unintentionally emit impurities upon heating either directly by the inductive heater or indirectly by the heated target electrode. This is highly advantageous as it ensures that only vapors from the target material are produced in the carrier gas, resulting in the formation of atomic clusters and subsequently nanoparticles of extremely high purity. Furthermore, the magnetic field produced by the inductor coil is focused on the tip of the electrode which is sharpened in a way that the carrier gas flowing around it does not become turbulent. The focused magnetic field ensures very local heating at, and thus emission of the metal vapors from, the tip of the electrode, whereas by maintaining flow laminarity around the electrode tip ensures that the resulting vapors downstream have the same history, and consequently yield particles of the same size (monodisperse).

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