Flame to Make Nanoparticles


 FIRE!

The oldest known way to turn raw materials into useable goods. Today, scientists use a sophisticated version of the well known technique. Flame aerosol synthesis is being used to create nanoparticles. This process is very effective, but comes with significant challenges. First is flame manipulation, but also getting precise control over the distribution and size of nanoparticles. Lastly, of course,  is cost. 

The University of Buffalo is working on these issues. They have created a flame aerosol system that is versatile, easy to use and cheap. The study was published on October 30, in Nature Communications. It describes how scientists used the methodology to create metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). These are porous nanomaterials that are used in many fields, including the environment, health and medicine. 

The study's lead author is named Mark Swihart, Ph.D. He is a SUNY Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He reports, "This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time that flame aerosol technology has been applied to create MOFs."

Almost all MOFs are made with a liquid chemical reaction. These are effective at making materials with a high degree of crystallinity. Making MOFs in this manner is expensive and time consuming. The flame aerosol system will be much faster and far less expensive. This is because it only requires one step. Flame MOFs have a lower porosity than conventional MOFs. They also have a small grain size, short-range ordered structures and high thermal stability. The findings could lead to new commercial uses!

The flame aerosol system circumvents thermodynamic barriers. Researchers claim that the mixing of any two metal elements into a single MOF is possible. The original articles on flame aerosol was published on August 27 in Matter. It expressed the potential for creating high-entropy ceramic nanomaterials. These nanomaterials are highly stable and made of multiple elements. They have unique properties, making them perfect for energy storage and sensing. Using the flame aerosol system, scientists created 22 elements. This demonstrated the flexibility of such applications. 

Swihart summarizes, "The flame reactor is a scalable one step and incredibly versatile way to fabricate high-entropy nanoceramics, as well as other materials."


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mike Giradi from Stereotimes commentary on Holostage Room Treatments

I have been  friends with Mike Giradi for a few years and he has helped me test numerous designs .    I was so honored a few weeks ago when he agreed to give these Holostages a few words.  From. Mike G. The sound was a little closed in at first, but then it really opened up to prove it is another great audio product. The noise floor is greatly reduced. I am hearing details I've never heard before. When it's in the recording, the soundstage widens in all directions. The timbre of each instrument is spot on. The six Holostages installed in my room aided in the C13 alignment of air molecules to a far greater extent than the Bybee IQSE devices I had previously been using. Every instrument had greater depth, pop and presence. Listening to classical music on movie soundtracks is incredible now. The Holostages installed on my BACCH4MAC and monoblocks was the answer to what was needed. The noise floor dropped significantly in both cases resulting in greater clarity and music...
Read more

Queen Bee 🐝

Image
  Bees hide an interesting secret. When the hive loses its queen, who alone is able to give life to the colony and maintain order in a perfectly organized society, all seems lost. The life of the hive slows down. Without new eggs, the future is lost. In a few weeks, the colony may be doomed. But the bees do not panic. Nor do they expect salvation from outside. Demonstrating extraordinary collective intelligence and profound instincts, they trigger spectacular emergency procedures, almost unimaginable in a world dominated by insects. --- ◆ The transformation begins with a simple but essential choice The worker bees choose common larvae - those who would normally be mere workers. They are nothing special. They are not born different. But their fate changes completely. They are chosen to receive a special food: royal jelly. A rare substance, produced by healthy bees, rich in proteins, vitamins and bioactive compounds. This is royal food in the purest sense of the word. The larvae fed ...
Read more

Novel Acoustic Wave Discovered

Image
  A new diffraction phenomenon was researched and published on January 14, 2025. The team was led by Tohoku University with collaboration from the Japan atomic energy agency and the RIKEN Center for emergent matter science. Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are elastic vibrations. They travel along the surface of materials, not unlike ripples on a pond. SAWs are an important part of frequency filters used in every day devices like our cell phones. These devices change electrical signals in vibrations, or ripples. This occurs because of the piezoelectric  effect and it enables efficient signal processing. During this experiment, the team created a periodic array of magnetic nanoscale materials. The magnetic array is a sort of specialized grating that the waves passed through. The scientists were surprised. Instead of the usual symmetric defraction, the team saw something different. They observed a completely new, asymmetrical diffraction of SAWs called ‘non-reciprocal defraction’....
Read more