Production Of Chain Agglomerations Of Nano-Scale Metal Particles

Abstract

A process and apparatus for producing chain agglomerations of nano-scale metal particles includes feeding at least one decomposable moiety selected from the group consisting of organometallic compounds, metal complexes, metal coordination compounds and mixtures thereof into a reactor vessel; exposing the decomposable moiety to a source of energy sufficient to decompose the moiety and produce nano-scale metal particles; and deposit or collection of chain agglomerations of nano-scale metal particles.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 462,413 entitled “Production Of Chain Agglomerations Of Nano-Scale Metal Particles,” filed on Aug. 6, 2006 in the name of Robert A. Mercuri, which in turn is a continuation-in-part of copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 200,952 entitled “Process For The Production Of Nano-Scale Metal Particles,” filed on Aug. 10, 2005 in the name of Robert A. Mercuri, and copending and commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 201,368 entitled “Production of Nano-Scale Metal Particles,” filed on Aug. 10, 2005 in the name of Robert A. Mercuri, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated by reference herein.TECHNICAL FIELD [0002]The present invention relates to a process for the production of chain agglomerations of nano-scale metal particles, useful for catalysis and other applications. By the practice of the present inve...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about a system and process for producing chain agglomerations of nano-scale metal particles. These particles have unique properties that make them useful in applications such as catalysis. The system involves decomposing a decomposable metal-containing moiety in a reactor vessel and collecting the metal particles on a support or collector. The particles are organized in an elongate arrangement, with an aspect ratio of at least 700:1. The invention can be practiced at atmospheric pressure or with subatmospheric pressures. The reactor vessel can be a closed system or a flow-through reactor vessel. The invention can also be used with a feeder to carry the decomposable moiety into the reactor vessel. The supports can be any material on which the metal particles can be deposited.

Problems solved by technology

One major drawback to the preparation of catalyst materials through loading on a carrier particle is in the amount of time the loading reactions take, which can be measured in hours in some cases.

Thus, these processes are difficult and expensive to operate.

Even if technically feasible, however, the Bert and Bianchini methods require high temperatures (on the order of 300° C. to 800° C.)

, and require several hours. A

ccordingly, these processes are of limited value.

However, more significant uses of metal carbonyls are in the production and / or deposition of the metals present in the carbonyl, since metal carbonyls are generally viewed as easily decomposed and volatile resulting in deposition of the metal and carbon monoxide.

Images