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Laser-assisted spray pyrolysis process for the growth of TiO2 and Fe2O3 nanoparticle coatings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2011

Sarath Witanachchi ,
Gayan Dedigamuwa  and
Pritish Mukherjee
Sarath Witanachchi*
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Advanced Materials Science and Technology, Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620
Gayan Dedigamuwa
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Advanced Materials Science and Technology, Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620
Pritish Mukherjee
Affiliation:
Laboratory for Advanced Materials Science and Technology, Department of Physics, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida 33620
*
a) Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: switanac@cas.usf.edu
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Abstract

We present a laser-assisted spray pyrolysis method to fabricate nanoparticle coatings of metal oxides. In this process, 1.5-μm size droplets of a titanium- or iron-containing organometallic precursor were injected into a vacuum chamber with SF6 carrier gas. The strong absorption of a 3W CO2 laser beam focused onto the injector tip in the presence of SF6 increased the temperature of the gas and the droplets to about 300 °C. Films deposited on heated substrates with and without the CO2 laser heating were studied by atomic force microscopy. The laser heating of the droplets caused the solvent to evaporate before depositing on the substrate, leading to grain sizes that are about a factor of 3 smaller than those deposited without laser heating. By controlling the concentration of the precursor in the solvent, the average particle sizes have been tuned from 80 to 50 nm.

Keywords

CoatingNanostructureSpray pyrolysis
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , March 2007 , pp. 649 - 654
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

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References

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