Using Plasma Electrolysis for Efficient Manufacturing of Nanoparticles

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Nanoparticles play a key role in a wide variety of advanced devices, including batteries, biosensors, and solar cells. The conventional means of synthesizing nanoparticles is generally inefficient and produces waste materials that are not easily recyclable. This award supports fundamental research on the chemical and physical reactions in plasma electrolysis to obtain knowledge that will enable efficient manufacture of nanoparticles. Plasma electrolysis is a glow discharge (like Neon light) in contact with liquid. The plasma is confined around an electrode by the liquid electrolyte, leading to very high energy density. This high-density plasma facilitates effective formation of nanoparticles from the working electrode. This research will benefit the scientific community by advancing knowledge about plasma physics and chemistry at liquid-gas-solid interfaces. Using cost-effective nanoparticles in photovoltaic devices and batteries will greatly promote the efficiency of clean energy generation and storage. The technologies that emerge from this research will not only promote US competitiveness in nanomaterials manufacturing, but will also ensure a sustainable economy and address global environmental concerns. This research will strengthen interdisciplinary research, education, and training in nanomaterials science and plasma physics by engaging college and high school students across South Dakota, thereby increasing the participation of underrepresented groups and expanding the pool of skilled workers.Plasma electrolysis can be a rapid and efficient process for nanoparticle manufacturing. All previous studies indicate that plasma electrolysis tends to create large particles (microns) and irregular electrode surface morphology. This has led to the conventional belief that multiple chemical and physical reactions occur simultaneously and that physical reactions dominate plasma electrolysis. Very little is known about the chemical reactions. To fill this knowledge gap and realize the full potential of plasma electrolysis for nanoparticle manufacturing, the research team will 1) establish a particle-fluid hybrid model to describe the physical and chemical reactions in plasma electrolysis; 2) use in-situ optical emission spectroscopy to verify the plasma reactions and the modeling results; 3) decouple the physical and chemical reactions to test the hypothesis that the electrolyte composition determines gas evolution (bubbles or a continuous layer), which governs discharge characteristics and the dominant plasma reactions; and 4) establish the relationships between plasma electrolysis parameters (electrolyte composition, magnetic field, and discharge power) and nanoparticle morphology.