Mechanism of nanoparticle agglomeration during the combustion synthesis

The mechanism of agglomeration of nanoparticles generated during combustion synthesis is discussed. This is based on the analysis of the transmission electron microscope images of probes collected at different heights. Although direct temperature measurements were not available, the qualitative temperature dependence of the particle formation streamlines is taken into account. It is demonstrated that agglomeration of the MgO nanoparticles, which are formed during a Mg particle combustion, occurs as the result of bonding the mature nanoparticles by the supercritical clusters existing in the system. Accumulation of these supercritical clusters in the flame has been revealed and their nature has been explained in our recent paper [I.S. Altman, I.E. Agranovski, and M. Choi, Phys. Rev E 70, 062603 (2004)]. Also, some inspection of the previously published experimental data on the nanoparticle generation shows that the similar supercritical clusters may exist in another flame reactor generating titania nanopaprticles. If this is the case, the cluster-based process of nanoparticle bonding we suggest can be considered to be general. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.