Aerosol Synthesis of Nanomaterials

The field of nanotechnology has seen an explosion of research activities in the area of materials synthesis with a focus on fine-tuning size, shape, content, and surface physicochemical properties. Applications of such nanomaterials are in medicine, electronics, and catalysis, which include cancer phototherapy, self-cleaning glass, and solar photovoltaics. Synthesis methods for nanomaterials vary from hydrothermal and conventional solution based methods, electrochemical and photochemical methods, to utilizing ultrasound and microwaves. We have used a simple, scalable, and high-yield synthesis method called ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) to create nanoporous microspheres (in the one micron overall size range) with nanometer internal features (sub-100 nm). The microspheres are comprised of nanoparticle silicon dioxide (SiO2) and titanium dioxide (TiO2). The controllable factors were the ratio between SiO2/TiO2 and the crystallinity of TiO2. The materials characterization techniques used in this study were electron microscopy (i.e. scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy), optical microscopy, x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), zeta sizing, and UV-VIS spectroscopy. The cytotoxicities of the as synthesized particles were evaluated by a fellow INSET intern student (Ms. Silvia Lucatero).