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Synthesis of Multicomponent Metal-containing Nanomaterials in a Flame-driven High Temperature Reducing Jet Reactor
MOHAMMAD MOEIN MOHAMMADI, Shuo Liu, Chintan Shah, Sandeep Kumar Dhandapani, Shema Rachel Abraham, William Sullivan, Raymond Buchner, Mark Swihart, University at Buffalo - SUNY
Abstract Number: 227
Working Group: Nanoparticles and Materials Synthesis
Abstract
Metal nanomaterials have great potential in various applications such as catalysis, gas sensing, bio-imaging and printed electronics. Single-step, continuous, gas-phase processes may provide the best means of producing these nanomaterials at low-cost and large-scale. Flame technology is widely used to manufacture different types of nanomaterials such as fumed silica and titania at industrial scale. However, production of non-noble metal nanomaterials via this technique is not common. We have developed a flame-driven High Temperature Reducing Jet (HTRJ) process in our group that enables flame-based synthesis of metal nanomaterials from aqueous salt precursors. In this process, a fuel-rich hydrogen flame passes through a converging-diverging nozzle. An aqueous precursor solution injected at the throat section of the nozzle is atomized by the high velocity gas stream. The resulting droplets evaporate and the precursor decomposes, initiating nucleation of particles in a reducing environment containing excess H2. After the reaction zone, particles are cooled immediately to prevent further particle growth and coalescence. The key advantage of the HTRJ system over common flame-based aerosol synthesis methods is the separation of flame and product formation zones, which allows synthesis of nanomaterials that can be reduced by H2 in the presence of H2O. We have utilized the capabilities of this reactor to synthesize two groups of nanomaterials. First, we present novel three-dimensional multicomponent metal-decorated crumpled reduced graphene oxide ball (M-CGB) nanocomposites. As a representative application, Pd-CGB nanocomposites were used for H2 detection in air at room temperature. Second, we introduce active and stable supported nickel-based nanocatalysts for the dry reforming of methane (DRM). The HTRJ process is a potentially scalable method to produce non-noble catalyst structures at low-cost to achieve high DRM activity at low temperature.