In situ nanoparticle size measurements of gas-borne silicon nanoparticles by time-resolved laser-induced incandescence

TA Sipkens and R Mansmann and KJ Daun and N Petermann and JT Titantah and M Karttunen and H Wiggers and T Dreier and C Schulz, APPLIED PHYSICS B-LASERS AND OPTICS, 116, 623-636 (2014).

DOI: 10.1007/s00340-013-5745-2

This paper describes the application of time-resolved laser-induced incandescence (TiRe-LII), a combustion diagnostic used mainly for measuring soot primary particles, to size silicon nanoparticles formed within a plasma reactor. Inferring nanoparticle sizes from TiRe-LII data requires knowledge of the heat transfer through which the laser-heated nanoparticles equilibrate with their surroundings. Models of the free molecular conduction and evaporation are derived, including a thermal accommodation coefficient found through molecular dynamics. The model is used to analyze TiRe-LII measurements made on silicon nanoparticles synthesized in a low-pressure plasma reactor containing argon and hydrogen. Nanoparticle sizes inferred from the TiRe-LII data agree with the results of a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis.

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