SBIR Phase I: Chemical Aerosol-flow Synthesis of Nanometals

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目将专注于开发一种新的方法，以连续生产高质量的金属纳米颗粒。目前，纳米金属是通过在水或有机溶液中还原金属盐来少量生产的。得到的颗粒具有较好的粒度分布，但通常尺寸较大(20 Nm)，控制不好。一些纳米金属在气相中通过真空蒸发技术进行更大规模的工业化生产，然后使用标准表面活性剂在溶液中稳定下来。在这种情况下，颗粒容易团聚，纳米颗粒的形状和大小没有得到很好的控制。本项目的目的是评估化学气溶胶-流法作为大规模合成高质量、表面稳定、形状和尺寸分布良好的纳米金属的可行性。拟议研究的主要重点是为生产高质量纳米金属寻找最佳的技术和物理化学条件。如果成功，该方法将为研究和技术提供大量的纳米金属，加深对小尺寸方案中材料性质的了解，从而加速纳米金属应用的发展。从商业角度来看，如果这项提议成功，将对未来的纳米技术产生重大影响。半导体、金属和氧化物纳米粒子是未来技术和研究最理想的材料之一。这项研究不仅将对技术产生重大影响，因为它将为新工具、设备等提供大量的材料，而且它还将对我们在小尺寸范围内理解材料的性质产生重大影响。这项技术将对广泛的市场具有吸引力。特别是，抗菌涂料市场是纳米银的一种应用，它占据了很大的市场份额。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.