Synthesis of aerosol gels in a buoyancy-opposed flame reactor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021246045-A1
Application number	US-201716341825-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 19, 2017
Priority date	Oct 19, 2016
Publication date	Aug 12, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A process for gas-phase synthesis of titanium dioxide aerosol gels with controlled monomer size and crystalline phase using a diffusion flame aerosol reactor operated in a buoyancy-opposed configuration is disclosed. The process includes introducing a precursor stream into a diffusion flame aerosol reactor, introducing a fuel stream into the reactor, combusting the precursor stream and the fuel stream in a flame to form at least one nanoparticle, and operating the reactor in a down-fired buoyancy-opposed configuration to produce the aerosol gel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A process for the synthesis of an aerosol gel, the process comprising:
introducing a precursor stream into a diffusion flame aerosol reactor; introducing a fuel stream into the reactor; combusting the precursor stream and the fuel stream in a flame to form at least one nanoparticle; and, operating the reactor in a down-fired buoyancy-opposed configuration to produce the aerosol gel.

2 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the precursor stream comprises a metal precursor.

3 . The process of claim 2 , wherein the metal precursor comprises TTIP.

4 . The process of claim 1 , wherein the fuel stream comprises at least one of methane and oxygen.

5 . An aerosol gel produced by a diffusion flame aerosol reactor, wherein the reactor includes a precursor stream, a fuel stream, and operates in a down-fired buoyancy-opposed configuration to produce the gel.

6 . The gel of claim 5 , wherein the precursor stream comprises a metal precursor.

7 . The gel of claim 6 , wherein the metal precursor comprises TTIP.

8 . The gel of claim 5 , wherein the fuel stream comprises at least one of methane and oxygen.

9 . The gel process of claim 5 , wherein the gel has an uncrushed density of from about 0.010 g/cm 3 to about 0.030 g/cm 3 .

10 . The gel of claim 5 , wherein the gel has a crushed density of from about 0.500 g/cm 3 to about 1.50 g/cm 3 .

11 . A process for synthesizing an aerosol gel comprising aggregates, the process comprising:
diffusion-limiting cluster aggregating (DLCA) of at least one nanoparticle to produce an aggregate of nanoparticles; percolating the aggregate of nanoparticles to create a percolate of the aggregated nanoparticles; and, DLCA of the percolate of aggregated nanoparticles to create an aerosol gel comprising aggregates.

12 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the synthesizing of the aerosol gel comprising aggregates occurs in a diffusion flame aerosol reactor.

13 . The process of claim 12 , wherein the reactor operates in a down-fired buoyancy-opposed configuration.

14 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the aggregate of nanoparticles comprises nanoparticles having a diameter of from about 30 nm to about 100 nm.

15 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the percolate of aggregated nanoparticles comprises nanoparticles having a diameter of from about 100 nm to about 30 μm.

16 . The process of claim 11 , wherein the gel comprises macro-aggregates.

17 . The process of claim 16 , wherein the macro-aggregates comprise particles having a diameter of from about 30 μm to about 5 mm.

18 - 25 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Univ Washington

Inventors

• Chakrabarty Rajan K
• Liu Pai

Classifications

• B01J13/0095

  Preparation of aerosols · CPC title

• B01J20/28083

  being in the range 2-50 nm, i.e. mesopores · CPC title

• C01P2004/64

  Nanometer sized, i.e. from 1-100 nanometer · CPC title

• C01G23/07 Primary

  Producing by vapour phase processes, e.g. halide oxidation · CPC title

• B01J20/02

  comprising inorganic material · CPC title