title: Measurement of sub-2 nm clusters of pristine and composite metal oxides during nanomaterial synthesis in flame aerosol reactors.
abstract: Measuring stable clusters to understand particle inception will aid the synthesis of well-controlled nanoparticles via gas-phase aerosol routes. Using a Half Mini differential mobility analyzer, the presence of monomers, dimers, trimers, and tetramers was detected for the first time in a flame aerosol reactor during the synthesis of pristine TiO2 and TiO2/SiO2 nanocomposites. Atomic force microscopy confirmed the presence and the size of sub-2 nm clusters. The detection of these clusters elucidated the initial stages of particle formation during combustion synthesis and supported previous hypotheses that collisional growth from stable monomers of metal oxides is the first step of particle growth.
authors: Aerosol and Air Quality Research Laboratory and ‡Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis , St. Louis, Missouri 63130, United States.
authors: Jiaxi
authors: J
authors: Fang
authors: Yang
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Michel
authors: M
authors: Attoui
authors: Tandeep S
authors: TS
authors: Chadha
authors: Jessica R
authors: JR
authors: Ray
authors: Wei-Ning
authors: WN
authors: Wang
authors: Young-Shin
authors: YS
authors: Jun
authors: Pratim
authors: P
authors: Biswas