NANOMATERIALS FABRICATED USING SPARK EROSION AND OTHER PARTICLE FABRICATION PROCESSES

摘要

Methods, systems, and devices are disclosed for fabricating clean, oxidation-free nanoparticles of electrically conducting metals and alloys using spark erosion techniques. In one aspect, a method includes dispersing bulk pieces of an electrically conducting material in a dielectric fluid with mechanical vibrations within a container; generating an electric field using electrodes in the dielectric fluid using by an electric pulse, in which the electric field creates a plasma in a volume existing between the bulk pieces that locally heats the bulk pieces to form structures within the volume, the dielectric fluid quenching the structures to form nanoparticles, and filtering the nanoparticles through a screen including holes of a size allowing nanoparticles of the size or smaller to pass through the screen to a region in the container, in which the dielectric fluid inhibits oxidation of the surface of the nanoparticles.

主权项

1. A method of producing nanoparticles by spark erosion, comprising:
dispersing bulk pieces of an electrically conducting material in a dielectric fluid within a container; using electrodes in contact with the dielectric fluid that are separate from one another to apply electric pulses to the bulk pieces near the electrodes to generate an electric field which creates a plasma in a volume existing between the bulk pieces that locally heats the bulk pieces to form structures within the volume, wherein the dielectric fluid quenches the formed structures to form nanoparticles; rotating two adjacent electrodes of the electrodes in opposite rotations to facilitate formation of the nanoparticles from the bulk pieces; and filtering the nanoparticles in the dielectric fluid through a screen including holes of a size allowing nanoparticles of the size or smaller to pass through the screen to a region in the container, wherein the dielectric fluid is selected to inhibit oxidation of the surface of the nanoparticles.