SBIR Phase I: Chemical Aerosol-flow Synthesis of Nanometals

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将重点开发一种连续生产高质量金属纳米颗粒的新方法。目前，纳米金属是通过减少水或有机溶液中的金属盐来少量生产的。获得的颗粒具有良好的尺寸分布，但尺寸通常较大（20nm）且控制不好。一些纳米金属是通过真空蒸发技术在气相中以较大的工业规模生产的，然后使用标准表面活性剂在溶液中稳定。在这种情况下，颗粒容易聚集，纳米颗粒的形状和大小不能很好地控制。该项目的目的是评估化学气溶胶流法作为一种大规模工艺的可行性，用于合成具有良好控制形状和尺寸分布的高质量，表面稳定的纳米金属。提出的研究的主要重点是找到生产高质量纳米金属的最佳技术和物理化学条件。如果成功，这种方法将为研究和技术提供大量的纳米金属，提供对小尺寸材料特性的更深入的理解，从而加速纳米金属应用的发展。在商业上，这一建议的结果将对未来的纳米技术产生重大影响，如果成功的话。半导体、金属和氧化物纳米颗粒是未来技术和研究中最理想的材料之一。这项研究不仅会对技术产生很大的影响，因为它将为新工具、设备等提供大量的材料，而且还会对我们在小尺寸上理解材料的性质产生很大的影响。这项技术将对广泛的市场具有吸引力。特别是，抗菌涂料市场是银纳米颗粒的一个应用，占市场的很大份额。其他金属纳米胶体将在纳米材料市场发挥重要作用。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will focus on the development of a new approach for the continuous production of high quality metal nanoparticles. Currently, nanometals are produced in small quantities by the reduction of metal salts in water or organic solutions. Obtained particles have decent size distribution, but the size is typically large (20 nm) and not well controlled. Some nanometals are produced on a larger, industrial scale in the gas phase by vacuum evaporation techniques, and then stabilized in solution using standard surfactants. In this case, particles tend to agglomerate and the shapes and the sizes of nanoparticles are not well controlled. The aim of this project is to evaluate the feasibility of the chemical aerosol-flow method as alarge scale process for the synthesis of high-quality, surface stabilized nanometals with well-controlled shape and size distribution. The primary focus of the proposed research is to find the optimal technical and physico-chemical conditions for the production of high-quality nanometals. If successful, this method will provide large quantities of nanometals for research and technology, provide a deeper understanding of the properties of materials in the small size regimen, and, consequently, accelerate the development of nanometals applications.Commercially, the outcome of this proposal will have a great impact on future nanotechnology, if successful. Semiconductor, metal, and oxide nanoparticles are among the most desired materials for future technology and research. The research will not only have a great impact on technology, since it will provide a great amount of material for use in new tools, devices, etc., but it will also have a great impact on our understanding of materials' properties at small dimensions. The technology will be attractive to a wide range of markets. In particularly, the antimicrobial coatings market is one application for silver nanoparticles, which accounts for a large share of the market. Other metal nanocolloids will play a significant role in the nanomaterials market.