Gas-Phase Synthesis of Functional Nanomaterials

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs) of different types, especially those of metals and metal oxides, are widely used in research and industry for a variety of applications utilising their unique physical and chemical properties. In this article, the focus is put on the fabrication of nanomaterials by means of gas-phase aggregation, also known as the cluster beam technique. A short overview of the history of cluster sources development emphasising the main milestones is presented followed by the description of different regimes of cluster-surface interaction, namely, soft-landing, pinning, sputtering and implantation. The key phenomena and effects for every regime are discussed. The review is continued by the sections describing applications of nanomaterials produced by gas aggregation. These parts critically analyse the pros and cons of the cluster beam approach for catalysis, formation of ferromagnetic and superparamagnetic NPs, applications in sensor and detection technologies as well as the synthesis of coatings and composite films containing NPs in research and industrial applications covering a number of different areas, such as electronics, tribology, biology and medicine. At the end, the current state of the knowledge on the synthesis of nanomaterials using gas aggregation is summarised and the strategies towards industrial applications are outlined.

All‐Printed Green Micro‐Supercapacitors Based on a Natural‐derived Ionic Liquid for Flexible Transient Electronics

“…As an alternative to traditional printing technologies, supersonic cluster beam deposition (SCBD) has been proposed as an additive manufacturing technique based on the gas-phase generation of cluster beams and in their controlled deposition on various rigid and flexible surfaces. [59][60][61][62] The use of solid precursors, sputtered in vacuum, avoids the use of any solvent, moreover the high collimation of the supersonic cluster beam is suitable for stencil mask-assisted micropatterning, allowing a fine control on the thickness and the roughness of the deposited nanostructured films [63] together with a robust adhesion and resiliency to mechanical deformation. [64,65] SCBD is a room-temperature technique that allows the use of thermolabile and/or easily degradable materials and substrates with no pre-or post-treatments.…”

Mechanical time-of-flight filter based on slotted disks and helical rotor for measurement of velocities of nanoparticles

“…Among them, one of the most important ones was found to be the velocity/energy of NPs upon their impact on a solid substrate. Related to this, two principal deposition regimes may be distinguished depending on the energy of incoming NPs 38 , 39 that is commonly expressed as the kinetic energy per atom E at . While the integrity and structure of both nanoparticle and substrate may dramatically change for E at higher than the binding energy of the nanoparticle constituents, nanoparticle stays intact and preserves its chemical composition during its interaction with a substrate at lower kinetic energies 40 .…”

Wettability Transition on the Fractal Surface Developed by Size-Selected Ag Nanoclusters

“…Size-selected silver NCs within the size range of 1–10 nm are considered as potential candidates for biomedical applications . In optical applications, bigger Ag NPs with a specific size (> 50 nm) and shape have been found to be very efficient for high-quality light-trapping phenomena, , while smaller NPs are widely used in sensing and detection applications where the phenomenon of localized surface plasmon resonance is utilized. − Besides the technological applications, the fundamental understanding of film growth is very important for the production of NPs of desired shape and size. The morphology of a thin film plays a vital role which can be used to tune various properties of a film.…”