Peter Hald

Biomolecule-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Bi2Te3 Nanostring-Cluster Hierarchical Structure

A simple biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal approach has been developed for the fabrication of Bi(2)Te(3) thermoelectric nanomaterials. The product has a nanostring-cluster hierarchical structure which is composed of ordered and aligned platelet-like crystals. The platelets are approximately 100 nm in diameter and only approximately 10 nm thick even though a high reaction temperature of 220 degrees C and a long reaction time of 24 h were applied to prepare the sample. The growth of the Bi(2)Te(3) hierarchical structure appears to be a self-assembly process. Initially, Te nanorods are formed using alginic acid as both reductant and template. Subsequently, Bi(2)Te(3) grows in a certain direction on the surface of the Te rods, resulting in the nanostring structure. The nanostrings further recombine side-by-side with each other to achieve the ordered nanostring clusters. The particle size and morphology can be controlled by adjusting the concentration of NaOH, which plays a crucial role on the formation mechanism of Bi(2)Te(3). An even smaller polycrystalline Bi(2)Te(3) superstructure composed of polycrystalline nanorods with some nanoplatelets attached to the nanorods is achieved at lower NaOH concentration. The room temperature thermoelectric properties have been evaluated with an average Seebeck coefficient of -172 microV K(-1), an electrical resistivity of 1.97 x 10(-3) Omegam, and a thermal conductivity of 0.29 W m(-1) K(-1).

Critical Size of Crystalline ZrO2 Nanoparticles Synthesized in Near- and Supercritical Water and Supercritical Isopropyl Alcohol

Nanocrystalline ZrO(2) samples with narrow size distributions and mean particle sizes below 10 nm have been synthesized in a continuous flow reactor in near and supercritical water as well as supercritical isopropyl alcohol using a wide range of temperatures, pressures, concentrations and precursors. The samples were comprehensively characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and the influence of the synthesis parameters on the particle size, particle size distribution, shape, aggregation and crystallinity was studied. On the basis of the choice of synthesis parameters either monoclinic or tetragonal zirconia phases can be obtained. The results suggest a critical particle size of 5-6 nm for nanocrystalline monoclinic ZrO(2) under the present conditions, which is smaller than estimates reported in the literature. Thus, very small monoclinic ZrO(2) particles can be obtained using a continuous flow reactor. This is an important result with respect to improvement of the catalytic properties of nanocrystalline ZrO(2).

Continuous flow supercritical water synthesis and crystallographic characterization of anisotropic boehmite nanoparticles

Crystalline boehmite nanoparticles have been prepared in a few minutes from thermal decomposition of aluminium nitrate in near- and supercritical water. Highly anisotropic nanoparticles are formed under continuous flow conditions using T-piece mixing and a large size tube diameter. The shapes and sizes of the synthesized nanocrystals were determined from peak shape analysis of powder X-ray diffraction data. The crystallite morphology is pressure dependent, and the size increases with temperature for constant reaction time and pressure. The modelled crystallite sizes and anisotropic shapes are in good agreement with transmission electron microscopy studies. At lower synthesis pressures the boehmite crystallite morphology is a mixture of platelets and bar-shaped crystals. The bar-shaped crystals align into polycrystalline fibre-like long thin needles, which again align sidewise in bundles. At higher pressures, only the polycrystalline fibres are formed. Full conversion of dried boehmite to γ-Al2O3 is observed after short-term heating to 773 K with an overall conservation of the morphology.