Chemical Vapor Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Nicolas Reuge (1) , Revathi Bacsa (2) , Philippe Serp (2) , Brigitte Caussat (1)

1 LGC - Laboratoire de Génie Chimique
2 LCC - Laboratoire de chimie de coordination

The chemical vapor synthesis of ZnO tetrapods from zinc metal has been studied using a combination of experiments and fluid dynamics modeling. On one hand, an experimental study allowed production of ultrapure ZnO particles whose mean lengths (250-450 nm) and diameters (14-27 nm) depended on the reactor configuration (i.e., parallel flow/crossflow), but not on the position of air injection. On the other hand, the yield of the reaction depended both on the reactor configuration and on the position of air injection. We then developed an original kinetic model implemented in the computation fluid dynamics code FLUENT. Within the limits of certain assumptions, the model successfully predicts the experimental yield of the reaction for all the conditions tested. This good agreement shows that the kinetics of nucleation/growth of ZnO nanoparticles are probably very rapid compared to the reaction of oxidation of Zn vapor. The combination of the experimental and simulated results led to a better understanding of the heat- and mass-transfer phenomena involved. Finally, several processing parameters, such as argon and air flow rates, position of air injection, and reactor diameter, were varied in the simulations to find optimized reaction conditions for maximum yield and production rate. For the crossflow configuration, a yield of 71% and a production rate 7 times higher than the nominal value have been obtained.

Mots clés: CVS; ZnO; Modelling; Experimental synthesis; Nanoparticles; Tetrapods

Domaines: Matériaux; Génie chimique

Nicolas Reuge, Revathi Bacsa, Philippe Serp, Brigitte Caussat. Chemical Vapor Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles: Experimental and Preliminary Modeling Studies. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2009, 113 (46), pp.19845-19852. ⟨10.1021/jp9070955⟩. ⟨hal-03475088⟩