STTR Phase II: A Simple and Innovative Approach to the Synthesis of Metal, Alloy, Metal Oxide, and Mixed-Metal Oxide Nanoparticles

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This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project aims to develop a manufacturing process to synthesize metal oxide, sulfide and other nanoparticles. The subject method simply involves mixing of common dry chemical starting materials and heating the resulting precursor material to a modest temperature. The objective is to demonstrate feasibility and scalability of this low-cost manufacturing process. Methods of dispersing aggregated particles in aqueous and polar solvents will be also be investigated.The broader/commercial impact of this project will be the potential to offer a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly process to produce a broad spectrum of high quality nanoparticles. Current methods of making nanoparticles involve heavy energy consumption, large amounts of waste, and/or purification problems. The synthetic approach in this project has the potential to become the method of choice to supply novel nanoparticles in many low to high technology applications. It is anticipated to obtain nanoparticles with particle sizes less than 15 nm, size variations within ±10-20%, and purities as high as 99.9999%.