Synthesis and characterization of FeAl nanoparticles by flow-levitation method

The synthesis of high purity intermetallic FeAI nanoparticles using the flow-levitation （FL） method was reported. Iron and aluminium droplets were levitated stably at about 2 230℃. The morphology, clystal structure and chemical composition of FeAI nanoparticles were investigated by transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, high-resolution TEM, X-ray diffraction and energy dispersive spectrometry. The results show that the average particle size of these nanoparticles is about 34.5 nm. Measurements of the d-spacing from X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction studies confirm that the intermetallic nanoparticles have the same crystal structure （B2） as the bulk FeA1. A thin oxidation coating is formed around the particles when being exposed to air. Based on the XPS measurements, the surface coating of the FeAI nanoparticles is composed of Fe2O3 and FeAl2O4. Besides, hysteresis curve reveals that saturation magnetization （Ms） of FeA1 is 1.66 A/m2, and the coercivity is about 1.214×10^3 A/re.

Synthesis and characterization of single-phase nanocrystalline Ag_2Al particles

Single-phase Ag2Al intermetallic nanoparticles, and Ag and Al metallic nanoparticles were synthesized by the flow-levitation （FL） method. Measurements of d-spacings from X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction confirmed that the intermetallic nanoparticles had the hexagonal Ag2Al structure. The morphology, crystal structure and chemical composition of Ag2Al nanoparticles were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and induction-coupled plasma spectroscopy. A thin amorphous coating was formed around the particles when exposed to air. Based on the XPS measurements, the surface coating of the Ag2Al nanoparticles could most likely be aluminum oxide or silver aluminum oxide. Therefore, the single-phase nanocrystalline Ag2Al intermetallic compound particles can be produced by adjusting some experimental parameters in FL method.

Preparation of nano-structured Ag solid materials and application to surface-enhanced Raman scattering

Silver nano-particles with average diameter of about 60 nm were compacted in a high-strength mold under different pressures at 523 K to produce nano-structured Ag solid materials. The structure and characteristic of the nano-structured Ag solid materials (NSS-Ag) were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Raman spectrometer. The NSS-Ag could be used as highly efficient surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) active substrates. The common probe molecules Rhodamine 6G (R6G, 1×10-10 mol/L) were used to test the SERS activity on these substrates at very low concentrations. It is found that the SERS enhancement ability is dependent on the density of NSS-Ag. When the relative density of NSS-Ag is 83.87%, the materials reveal great SERS signal.

Preparation and Characterization of Copper-Nickel Bulk Nanocrystals

Copper-nickel nanoparticle was directly prepared by flow-levitation method （FL） and sintered by vacuum sintering of powder （VSP） method. Several characterizations, such as transmission electron microscopy （TEM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, differential thermal analysis （DTA）, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDX） were used to investigate the prepared nanostructures. The results of the study show that FL method could prepare high purity Cu-Ni nanocrystals of uniform spheres with size distribution between 20 and 90 nm. After sintering the bulk nanocrystalline copper-nickel has obvious thermal stability and the surface Webster hardness increases with the rising sintering temperature. At the temperature of 900 ℃, the specimen shows higher surface Webster hardness, which is about two times of traditional materials. When the sintering temperature arrives at 1 000 ℃ the relative density of bulk nanocrystals can reach 97.86 percent. In this paper, the variation tendency of porosity, phase and particles size of bulk along with the changing of sintering temperature have been studied.