Continuous synthesis of high-entropy alloy nanoparticles by in-flight alloying of elemental metals

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DOI

Resolve DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45731-z

Author

Search for: Kim, Keun Su¹ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3358-5159; Search for: Couillard, Martin²; Search for: Tang, Ziqi ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1951-8625; Search for: Shin, Homin¹; Search for: Poitras, Daniel³ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4403-8214; Search for: Cheng, Changjun ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2720-8683; Search for: Naboka, Olga⁴; Search for: Ruth, Dean¹; Search for: Plunkett, Mark¹; Search for: Chen, Lixin; Search for: Gaburici, Liliana¹; Search for: Lacelle, Thomas¹ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4224-8413; Search for: Nganbe, Michel ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2240-9099; Search for: Zou, Yu ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0179-3642

Affiliation

National Research Council of Canada. Security and Disruptive Technologies
National Research Council of Canada. Energy, Mining and Environment
National Research Council of Canada. Advanced Electronics and Photonics
National Research Council of Canada. Construction

Format

Text, Article

Subject

nanoparticles

Abstract

High-entropy alloy (HEA) nanoparticles (NPs) exhibit unusual combinations of functional properties. However, their scalable synthesis remains a significant challenge requiring extreme fabrication conditions. Metal salts are often employed as precursors because of their low decomposition temperatures, yet contain potential impurities. Here, we propose an ultrafast (< 100 ms), one-step method that enables the continuous synthesis of HEA NPs directly from elemental metal powders via in-flight alloying. A high-temperature plasma jet ( > 5000 K) is employed for rapid heating/cooling (10³ − 10⁵ K s⁻¹), and demonstrates the synthesis of CrFeCoNiMo HEA NPs ( ~ 50 nm) at a high rate approaching 35 g h⁻¹ with a conversion efficiency of 42%. Our thermofluid simulation reveals that the properties of HEA NPs can be tailored by the plasma gas which affects the thermal history of NPs. The HEA NPs demonstrate an excellent light absorption of > 96% over a wide spectrum, representing great potential for photothermal conversion of solar energy at large scales. Our work shows that the thermal plasma process developed could provide a promising route towards industrial scale production of HEA NPs.

Publication date

2024-02-16

Publisher

Springer Nature

Licence

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 DEED)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Language

English

Peer reviewed

Yes

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Record identifier

0108338a-3f5c-478d-b535-d1bf0f26411e

Record created

2024-02-22

Record modified

2024-02-22

Date modified:: 2024-07-27