Media effects on nanobrass arc fabrications

Brass rods (3 mm x 30 mm) are directly converted into brass nanoparticles through a modified arc method, at 100 A, and in five different media. The X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) data show strong dependence of nanoparticle sizes and their compositions on the media employed. In distilled water, both nanobrass (30 nm) and nano-Cu/ZnO (18 nm) are produced in comparable quantities. In gaseous nitrogen merely nanobrass (49 nm) is observed, in a high yield. In contrast, a very low yield of nanoproduct(s) is encountered in liquid nitrogen. In the open air, nanobrass (75 nm) is formed along with traces of ZnO. In ethylene glycol, nanobrass (108 nm) is formed as the major product along with a nanoalloy of CuZn5 (25 nm). Among these, distilled water proved to be the medium of choice for the arc synthesis of nanobrass. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.