Contact Person: Pierre Stolzenburg
Metal oxide nanoparticles are key materials for many established and novel applications. They can be synthesized in a well-controlled and reproducible fashion by solvent based methods like the nonaqueous sol gel method. The industrial application of these methods is however impeded so far by a lack of knowledge on the process technology of these systems. For examples, the influence of process parameters on the particle properties and the mechanisms and kinetics of particle formation are not understood yet. Goal of this research project funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is therefore the systematic investigation of the nonaqueous sol gel synthesis to get detailed insights on the influence of the process parameters on the particle formation. Ultimate aim is to finally allow a predictable, rational synthesis of the nanoparticles and also to enable the theoretically modeling of the particle formation. Therefore the synthesis is performed at different scales from 45 mL laboratory autoclaves to a 1 L reaction vessel.
Literatur zum Projekt:
M. Zimmermann, G. Garnweitner; Spontaneous water release inducing nucleation during the nonaqueous synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles, CrystEngComm, 2012, 14, 8562-8568