Principle: In this scheme, gaseous species (which absorb CO2 laser radiation), are irradiated with intense CO2 laser beam resulting in dissociation of gaseous precursor and formation of supersaturated vapor of atoms/molecules. Supersaturated vapor condenses outside the irradiation zone leading to formation of nano particles. The size of nano particles can be precisely controlled by optimizing laser power, type of gas, precursor gas flow velocity and cooling gas velocity. Gas phase synthesis, being a clean, highly controllable and scalable process, offers distinct advantages over other synthesis routes
Gas phase Nano-particle Synthesis Facility: A gas phase nano particle reactor, coupled with a sophisticated gas panel, is being developed for gas phase nano-particle synthesis. The gas panel will have the capability to feed pyrophoric as well as corrosive gases into the reactor. In the first phase, Si nanoparticles will be generated by using Silane (SiH4) as the precursor. We have plans to generate SiC, Si3N4, TiO2, Fe3O4 nanoparticles in the near future. The scheme to generate gas phase nanoparticles is shown below:
