Nanoscale inorganic materials have attracted a great deal of interest for their unique physiochemical properties and potential applications in catalysis, biochemical sensing, optoelectronics, and medicine. However, the precise synthesis and characterization of these materials remains a critical challenge to technological application. In this talk, atmospheric-pressure microplasmas are presented as an economically-viable, versatile, steady-state approach to the synthesis and processing of nanomaterials. Several examples of applications of our technique will be discussed including (i) non-lithographic fabrication of surface-enhanced Raman substrates [1], (ii) gas-phase nanoparticle synthesis [2], (iii) catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes [3,4], and (iv) colloidal nanoparticle synthesis.

References

1. W-H. Chiang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 91, 021501 (2007).

2. R. M. Sankaran et al., Nano Lett., Vol. 5, 537 (2005).

3. W-H. Chiang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 91, 121503 (2007).

4. W-H. Chiang et al., Adv. Mat., in press.