Highly conductive copper films prepared by multilayer sintering of nanoparticles synthesized via arc discharge.

The major challenges in producing highly electrically conductive copper films are the oxide content and the porosity of the sintered films. This study developed a multilayer sintering method to remove the copper oxides and reduce copper film porosity. We used a self-built arc discharge reactor to produce copper nanoparticles.

A model flow reactor design for the study of nanoparticle structure formation under well-defined conditions.

Structure formation models describe the change of the particle structure, e.g., by sintering or coating, as a function of the residence time and temperature.

Conductive films prepared from inks based on copper nanoparticles synthesized by transferred arc discharge.

Copper nanoparticles (NPs) are considered as a promising alternative for silver and gold NPs in conductive inks for the application of printing electronics, since copper shows a high electrical conductivity but is significantly cheaper than silver and gold. In this study, copper NPs were synthesized in the gas phase by transferred arc discharge, which has demonstrated scale-up potential. Depending on the production parameters, copper NPs can be continuously synthesized at a production rate of 1.

Optimization of a transferred arc reactor for metal nanoparticle synthesis.

The demand for metal nanoparticles is increasing strongly. Transferred arc synthesis is a promising process in this respect, as it shows high production rates, good quality particles and the ability of up-scaling. The influence of several process parameters on the performance of the process in terms of production rate and particle size is investigated.

Scalable and Environmentally Benign Process for Smart Textile Nanofinishing.

A major challenge in nanotechnology is that of determining how to introduce green and sustainable principles when assembling individual nanoscale elements to create working devices. For instance, textile nanofinishing is restricted by the many constraints of traditional pad-dry-cure processes, such as the use of costly chemical precursors to produce nanoparticles (NPs), the high liquid and energy consumption, the production of harmful liquid wastes, and multistep batch operations. By integrating low-cost, scalable, and environmentally benign aerosol processes of the type proposed here into textile nanofinishing, these constraints can be circumvented while leading to a new class of fabrics.

Metal-semiconductor pair nanoparticles by a physical route based on bipolar mixing.

In this report a methodology is described and demonstrated for preparing Au-Ge pair nanoparticles with known compositions by extending and modifying the basic steps normally used to synthesize nanoparticles in carrier gas. For the formation of pair nanoparticles by bipolar mixing, two oppositely charged aerosols of nanoparticles having the desired size are produced with the help of two differential mobility analyzers. Then both are allowed to pass through a tube, which provides sufficient residence time to result in nanoparticle pair formation due to Brownian collisions influenced by Coulomb forces.