Speaker
Igor D. Kaganovich
Description
See the full Abstract at http://ocs.ciemat.es/EPS2018ABS/pdf/I2.307.pdf
Fundamental Study of Synthesis of Carbon and Boron Nitride Nanostructures
in Atmospheric Pressure Arc Discharges
Y. Raitses1, I. D. Kaganovich1, A. Khrabryi1, A. Khodak1, V. Vekselman1, S. Yatom1, V.
Nemchinsky5, L. Han6, P. Krstic6, B. Santra8, A. Gerakis1, Y-W. Yeh1,2, M. Shneider3, B.
Stratton7, X. Fang4, M. Keidar4, B. Koel7, and R. Car8
1
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton, NJ, USA
2
Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
3
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton,
NJ, USA
4
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The George Washington
University, Washington, DC, USA
5
Keiser University, Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA
6
Institute for Advanced Computational Science and Department of Material Science and
Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY, USA
7
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ,
USA
8
Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
Plasma synthesis of nanomaterials offers potentially higher throughput, lower cost, and
better control of material properties than conventional chemical methods. Over the past few
years we have conducted comprehensive fundamental studies of nanomaterials synthesis by
atmospheric pressure arc discharges. This work has led to significant advancements in the
understanding of the synergistic roles of plasma and materials processes in the arc synthesis
of carbon and boron-nitride nanomaterials. In order to understand nanostructure formation
we needed to determine the plasma and gas composition conditions in the nucleation and
growth region. This data was not available and well-known before, because it is difficult to
measure plasma parameters inside the arc. We determined plasma parameters in the growth
region using various in-situ plasma diagnostics and fluid modelling. Additionally, atomistic
simulations helped to analyse crucial processes in nanomaterial synthesis. The dominance of
diatomic carbon molecules in the arc periphery, a probable pre-cursor species for synthesis of
carbon nanostructures, and the dominance of C atoms in the arc core are important new
findings of these studies. For boron nitride nanotubes two possible mechanisms of synthesis
root-growth from boron clusters and volumetric growth from boron-nitride nanocages are
being investigated. Papers are available at nano.pppl.gov
