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Thermal plasma arc discharge method for high-yield production of hexagonal AlN nanoparticles: synthesis and characterization

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Abstract

Large scale with high-purity hexagonal aluminum nitride nanoparticles (AlN NPs) was synthesized using DC thermal plasma arc discharge method (TPAD). Argon gas was used as the plasma forming gas, while ammonia (NH3) gas was used as the reactive gas, which was fed into the reactor at a constant flow rate of 5 LPM. In order to optimize the process for high yield, the experiments were carried out at various plasma input powers, such as 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 kW. Following the optimization, to examine the influence of using pure nitrogen gas, an experiment was also carried out in the nitrogen ambience. The phase identification and structural determination of the synthesized NPs were carried out using XRD and Raman spectroscopic analyses. While the morphology, particle size, and elemental compositions of the synthesized NPs were observed from SEM, HRTEM, XPS, and EDX analyses. The photoluminescence response was confirmed from the PL spectrum. The PL emission peaks observed around 440 nm (2.8 eV) and 601 nm (2.07 eV), respectively, which correspond to the UV blue and red band emissions of both AlN and Al/AlN NPs. The results show that the synthesized nano-AlN NPs exhibit excellent crystallinity with a high yield of approximately 210 g/h. The current plasma technology can be regarded as a perfect potential process for developing nano-AlN powders with improved efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) for funding (ERIPR/ER/1403181/M/01/1699, Dt.: 27.09.2017) and the Board of Research in Nuclear Science (BRNS) for research support (39/14/14/2016 – BRNS/34166, Dt.: 13.07.2016). This research was financially supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MSIT) (No. 2021M3H4A6A01045764, 2018R1A5A1025224) and Creative Materials Discovery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (No. NRF-2016M3D1A1021141).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Bharathiar University, Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, 641046, India

    Lakshmanan Kumaresan & Gurusamy Shanmugavelayutham

  2. Department of Material Science and Engineering, Engineering Research Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea

    Subramani Surendran & Uk Sim

  3. Optoelectronics Convergence Research Center, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea

    Subramani Surendran & Uk Sim

  4. Future Energy Engineering Convergence, College of AI Convergence, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea

    Subramani Surendran & Uk Sim

  5. Research Institute, NEEL Sciences INC., Gwangju, 61186, Republic of Korea

    Uk Sim

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  1. Lakshmanan Kumaresan
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  2. Gurusamy Shanmugavelayutham
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Correspondence to Gurusamy Shanmugavelayutham or Uk Sim.

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Kumaresan, L., Shanmugavelayutham, G., Surendran, S. et al. Thermal plasma arc discharge method for high-yield production of hexagonal AlN nanoparticles: synthesis and characterization. J. Korean Ceram. Soc. 59, 338–349 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43207-021-00177-7

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