Evaporator apparatus and method for making nanoparticles

摘要

Nanoparticles of a material less than about 100 nm in diameter are made by evaporating the material in an evaporation chamber residing in an entrainment chamber having a gaseous atmosphere therein. The evaporator is disposed in but isolated from the entrainment chamber, except for a gaseous jet discharge opening. A carrier gas is introduced to the evaporation chamber to carry vapor of the material in the evaporation chamber through the discharge opening into the entrainment chamber as a gaseous jet. The gaseous jet entrains the gaseous atmosphere for quenching the vapor to form nanoparticles. Solid material is supplied at a feedrate to a supply opening of the evaporation chamber, melted at an end region remote from the supply opening, and evaporated at the end region at an evaporation rate equal to the feed rate of the solid material. First and second metals having different vapor pressures can be supplied to respective first and second evaporation chambers and their vapors collected in a common vapor collection chamber having the discharge opening therein. The carrier gas is introduced to the vapor collection chamber to carry the metal vapors together through the discharge opening as a gaseous jet into the entrainment chamber where nanoparticles comprising the two metals are formed.