Sonoelectrochemical synthesis of submicron metal powders

Pulsed sonoelectrochemical synthesis is a widely used technique for producing nanoparticles. In this technique, alternating pulses of electric current and power ultrasound are applied to an electrochemical cell to create and suspend particles in the electrolyte. The pulsed technique largely separates the particle morphology defining physical action of electrochemistry and ultrasound. Despite the large body of work characterizing the pulsed method, surprisingly little is written about the behavior of particles in the continuous case, where electric current and ultrasound are simultaneously present. In this thesis, continuous ultrasound assisted electrochemical synthesis of nanoparticles is established. Potentially useful mechanisms for particle size and shape control in continuous reactors are discussed. A continuous sonoelectrochemical reactor was designed and demonstrated to produce submicron copper powders. Improvements to the batch reactor design are proposed to extend the technique to a flow reactor useful for commercial production of submicron metal powders.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Reneker, Joseph (Joseph William)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Taofang Zeng.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/70439

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/70439