INDUSTRIAL GAS PHASE SYNTHESIS OF NANOSCALED OXIDES AND INORGANIC NANOCOMPOSITES; A. Gutsch, H. Mühlenweg, M. Pridöhl, G. Zimmermann, Degussa AG, Project House Nanomaterials, Rodenbacher Chausse 4, 63457 Hanau, Germany. Degussa possesses many years of experience in industrial flame synthesis as well of fine powders as of nanomaterials. Gas-phase-synthesis is a well-known chemical-manufacturing technique for an extensive variety of nano-sized particles. Since the potential of fine and especially nano-sized particles in high performance applications has been identified, the scientific and commercial interest has increased immensely, disclosing this field as a most important technology of the future. The paper will present the basics of the gas-phase-synthesis and particle formation process including the relation between the principal process conditions and the product characteristics. The second part describes the synthesis and characterization of smart inorganic nanocomposites. Isolated, magnetically decoupled single-domain centers of nano-scaled iron oxide were embedded in an amorphous silica matrix via flame synthesis providing superparamagnetic behaviour. The iron oxide content of the composite material, the size of the magnetic domains as of the composite particles, the throughput and the precursor concentration were varied systematically.
|