Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois 60605, USA.
Nanoscale. 2018 Jul 5;10(25):12196-12203. doi: 10.1039/c8nr01903g.
Conventional methods for preparing polymer nanoparticles and organic-inorganic composite nanoparticles use solution based top-down processes with surfactants and mechanical stirring. Examples of such processes include emulsion polymerization of monomers to produce polymer nanoparticles and sol-gel reactions involving hydrolysis of inorganic precursors to produce inorganic materials (such as silica and titanium nanoparticles). Here, we show that vaporized precursors of various compounds can be used as reactants to produce polymer, inorganic, and composite nanoparticles. The bubbling action of precursor vapor in a reactant vessel provides a constant supply of precursor species while aiding their rapid mixing in the bulk solution liquid. The vaporization and bubbling processes require only small amounts of energy to prepare nanoparticles or core-shell nanoparticles without forming unwanted side products. Compared to other available techniques, this approach enables precise control of nanoparticle size and shell thickness as functions of vapor supply time and temperature without surfactants. Our approach can potentially be applied to fabricate functional nanomaterials using organic and inorganic precursors for medical, electrical, optical, magnetic and/or catalytic applications.
传统的聚合物纳米粒子和有机-无机复合纳米粒子的制备方法采用基于溶液的自上而下的工艺，使用表面活性剂和机械搅拌。此类工艺的示例包括单体的乳液聚合以产生聚合物纳米粒子，以及涉及无机前体水解以产生无机材料（如二氧化硅和钛纳米粒子）的溶胶-凝胶反应。在这里，我们表明，可以将各种化合物的汽化前体用作反应物来生产聚合物、无机和复合纳米粒子。反应物容器中前体蒸气的鼓泡作用提供了前体物质的持续供应，同时有助于它们在主体溶液中快速混合。汽化和鼓泡过程仅需要少量能量即可制备纳米粒子或核壳纳米粒子，而不会形成不需要的副产物。与其他可用技术相比，这种方法可以在不使用表面活性剂的情况下，通过控制蒸气供应时间和温度，精确控制纳米粒子的尺寸和壳层厚度。我们的方法可用于使用有机和无机前体制备用于医疗、电气、光学、磁性和/或催化应用的功能纳米材料。
