Synthesis of functionalized nanoparticles in pilot scale

Abstract

The growing demand for advanced functional materials and devices based on nanomaterials has motivated efforts to produce nanoscale building blocks with designed functions. Metal oxide nanocrystals (MONs) are particularly promising for the development of such devices. MONs synthesized in an organic medium play an important role as building blocks because nonaqueous processes allow for greater control of the reaction pathways on a molecular level, enabling the synthesis of nanomaterials with high crystallinity and well-defined and uniform particle morphologies. The organic components strongly influence the composition, size, shape, and surface properties of the inorganic product. Hence, this project will be focused on the production scale up of TiO2, ZrO2 and Fe2O3 nanocrystals from 15g to 500g per batch, in powder and colloidal dispersion form. The samples will be evaluated by XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR and TGA in order to verify nanoparticles properties and quality, also the results will be used to modify the methodology and to adjust the equipments toward reach the 500g aim. The preparation of crystalline nanoparticles fully re-dispersible in organic solvents consists in one pot reaction under solvothermal treatment using organometallic compounds and organic solvents. The metal oxide nanoparticles that will be developed in this work are promising materials for ultrathin and thin film processing, for build blocks for hybrid materials, medical image diagnostics contrast and for other advanced ceramic devices. Moreover, this project will demand the creation of a spin-off by the researchers in charge. This future company will be supported by Multidisciplinary Center for the Development of Ceramic Materials (MCDCM) and the multidisciplinary Center for the Development of Functional Materials (CDFM) (CEPID 2013/07296-2), which MCDC is one of the major laboratories. (AU)