Trapping and aerogelation of nanoparticles in negative gravity hydrocarbon flames
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 (United States)
- Laboratory for Aerosol Science, Spectroscopy, and Optics, Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education, Reno, Nevada 89512 (United States)
- Condensed Matter Laboratory, Department of Physics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas 66506 (United States)
- TSI Incorporated, 500 Cardigan Rd, Shoreview, Minnesota 55126 (United States)
We report the experimental realization of continuous carbon aerogel production using a flame aerosol reactor by operating it in negative gravity (−g; up-side-down configuration). Buoyancy opposes the fuel and air flow forces in −g, which eliminates convectional outflow of nanoparticles from the flame and traps them in a distinctive non-tipping, flicker-free, cylindrical flame body, where they grow to millimeter-size aerogel particles and gravitationally fall out. Computational fluid dynamics simulations show that a closed-loop recirculation zone is set up in −g flames, which reduces the time to gel for nanoparticles by ≈10{sup 6} s, compared to positive gravity (upward rising) flames. Our results open up new possibilities of one-step gas-phase synthesis of a wide variety of aerogels on an industrial scale.
- OSTI ID:
- 22299913
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 24; Other Information: (c) 2014 Author(s); Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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