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Mixing strategies for zinc oxide nanoparticle synthesis via a polyol process
Author(s) -
Hosni Mongia,
Farhat Samir,
Ben Amar Mounir,
Kanaev Andrei,
Jouini Noureddine,
Hinkov Ivaylo
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.14737
Subject(s) - micromixing , polyol , nanoparticle , mixing (physics) , chemical engineering , dispersity , zinc , diethylene glycol , materials science , particle size , particle (ecology) , nanotechnology , chemistry , organic chemistry , composite material , ethylene glycol , polyurethane , physics , oceanography , quantum mechanics , geology , microfluidics , engineering
We report on the effect of mixing on the morphology of ultrafine zinc oxide nanoparticles synthesized via a polyol process using zinc acetate and water in a diethylene glycol medium. Three mixing strategies were considered: stirred batch, T‐mixer, and impinging free jets. The particle granulometry was accessed using the transmission electron microscopy and x‐ray diffraction methods. The nanoparticle size and polydispersity decreased with an increase in the local dissipated energy. In particular, the polyol process conducted in the same chemical environment at 353 K did not lead to the observation of nanoparticles in the stirred batch reactor but resulted in unconventionally small 6‐nm particles in the T‐mixer and impinging jet configurations. This result is apparently related to the micromixing eddy geometry described by the Kolmogorov length. The hydrodynamic flow patterns and energy dissipation were obtained from computational uid dynamics simulations, which are essential in the design, optimization, and scale‐up of the polyol process. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1708–1721, 2015