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Reductive/expansion synthesis of zero valent submicron and nanometal particles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Hugo Zea ,
Claudia C. Luhrs  and
Jonathan Phillips
Hugo Zea
Affiliation:
Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Ambiental, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota, Colombia
Claudia C. Luhrs
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Jonathan Phillips*
Affiliation:
University of New Mexico, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131; and Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87544
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: jcbc@cableone.net
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Abstract

Upon rapid heating to a high temperature (~800 °C), mixtures of nitrate compounds and urea created nano and submicron metal particles. The process (reductive/expansion synthesis, RES) results in atomic scale mixing. The product formed from mixed-nitrate (Fe + Ni) salts and urea created true metallic alloy. Unlike other product-from-powder synthesis processes, this process produced only zero valent metal. Initial work suggests this method is a scalable and efficient means for making metallic nanoparticles. Although this is primarily a phenomenological report, a preliminary model is presented: Initially, nitrates decompose to oxide; thus in the absence of urea metal oxide particles form, as in the case of combustion synthesis. In the case of urea/nitrate mixtures, there is a “convolution” of decomposition processes. Urea decomposes to yield reducing gases, leading to the formation of metal rather than oxide. Rapid “expansion” of gas leads to “shattering,” resulting in highly dispersed particles.

Keywords

AlloyChemical synthesisNanoscale
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 26 , Issue 5 , 14 March 2011 , pp. 672 - 681
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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