Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Chemical synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Nanoparticle Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An alternate synthetic route has been described for the production of aluminum nanoparticles (Al-NPs). These Al-NPs were obtained through a reduction of aluminum acetylacetonate [Al(acac)3] by lithium aluminum hydride (LiAlH4) in mestitylene at 165 °C. The side products were removed by repeated washing with dry, ice cold methanol and the reaction mixture was filtered to obtain gray-colored Al-NPs. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by Powder X-ray diffraction pattern and 27Al-MAS-NMR spectrum. The X-ray diffraction pattern confirmed the formation of face-centered cubic (fcc) form of aluminum. The size and morphology were investigated by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope which showed particle of varying shapes with size ranging from 50 to 250 nm. The weight loss from the nanoparticles was studied by thermo gravimetric analysis which indicated that the nanoparticles were tightly bound with an unknown amorphous organic residue which cannot be removed by simple washing. The carbonaceous residue might be outcome of the decomposition of acac ligand which was responsible in stabilizing aluminum nanoparticles.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arora N, Jagirdar BR (2012) Monodispersity and stability: case of ultrafine aluminum nanoparticles (<5 nm) synthesized by the solvated metal atom dispersion approach. J Mater Chem 22:9058–9063

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Aumann CE, Skrofronick GL, Martin JA (1995) Oxidation behavior of aluminum nano particles. J Vac Sci Technol B 13:1178–1183

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bunker CE, Smith MJ, Fernando KAS, Harruff BA, Lewis WK, Gord JR, Guliants EA, Phelps DK (2010) Spontaneous hydrogen generation from organic: capped aluminum nanoparticles and water. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2:11–14

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chung SW, Guliants EA, Bunker CE, Hammerstroem DW, Deng Y, Burgers MA, Jelliss PA, Buckner SW (2009) Capping and passivation of aluminum nanoparticles using alkyl-substituted epoxides. Langmuir 25:8883–8887

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper PW (1996) Explosives engineering. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernando SKA, Smith MJ, Harruff BA, Lewis WK, Guliants EA, Bunker CE (2009) Sonochemically assisted thermal decomposition of Alane N,N-dimethylethylamine with titanium (IV) isopropoxide in the presence of oleic acid to yield air-stable and size-selective aluminum core-shell nanoparticles. J Phys Chem C 113:500–503

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Foley TJ, Johnson CE, Higa KT (2005) Inhibition of oxide formation on aluminum nanoparticles by transition metal coating. Chem Mater 17:4086–4091

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ghanta SR, Muralidharan K (2010) Solution phase chemical synthesis of aluminum nano particles stabilized in poly(vinylpyrollidone) poly methylmethacrylate matrices. Nanoscale 2:976–980

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Haber JA, Buhro WE (1998) Kinetic instability of nanocrystalline aluminum prepared by chemical synthesis; facile room temperature grain growth. J Am Chem Soc 120:10847–10855

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hammerstroem DW, Burgers MA, Chung SW, Guliants EA, Bunker CE, Wentz KM, Hayes SE, Buckner SW, Jelliss PA (2011) Aluminum nanoparticles capped by polymerization of alkyl-substituted epoxides: ratio-dependent stability and particle size. Inorg Chem 50:5054–5059

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Helmich RJ, Suslick KS (2010) Chemical aerosol flow synthesis of hollow metallic aluminum particles. Chem Mater 22:4835–4837

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Holley CE Jr, Huber EJ Jr (1951) The heats of combustion of magnesium and aluminum. J Am Chem Soc 73:5577–5579

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jouet RJ, Warren AD, Rosenberg DM, Bellitto VJ, Park K, Zachariah MR (2005) Surface passivation of bare aluminum nano particles using perflouroalkyl carboxylic acids. Chem Mater 17:2987–2996

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leonard BM, Zhou Q, Wu D, Disalvo FJ (2011) Facile synthesis of PtNi intermetallic nanoparticles: influence of reducing agent and precursors on electro catalytic activity. Chem Mater 23:1136–1146

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Meziani MJ, Lu F, Bunker CE, Guliants EA, Sun Y (2009) Templated synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles: a new route to stable energetic materials. J Phys Chem C 113:20539–20542

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mahendiran C, Ganesan R, Gedanken A (2009) Sonoelectrochemical synthesis of aluminum nano particles. Eur J Inorg Chem 14:2050–2053

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pomfret MB, Brown DJ, Epshteyn A, Purdy AP, Owrutsky JC (2008) Electrochemical deposition aluminum nano rods using ionic liquids. Chem Mater 20:5945–5947

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sadezky A, Muckenhuber H, Grothe H, Niessner R, Pöschl U (2005) Raman microspectroscopy of soot and related carbonaceous materials: spectral analysis and structural information. Carbon 43:1731–1742

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith ME (1993) Application of 27Al NMR techniques to structure determination in solids. Appl Magn Reson 4:1–64

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Trunov MA, Schoenitz M, Zhu X, Dreizin EL (2005) Effect of polymorphic phase transformations in Al2O3 film on oxidation kinetics of aluminum powders. Combust Flame 140:310–318

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding from DRDO, India in the form of research Grant to ACRHEM and also thank the School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad for the infrastructure and other instrument facilities.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Advanced Center of Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM), University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 500046, India

    Sekher Reddy Ghanta & Krishnamurthi Muralidharan

  2. School of Chemistry, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, 50046, AP, India

    Krishnamurthi Muralidharan

Authors
  1. Sekher Reddy Ghanta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Krishnamurthi Muralidharan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Krishnamurthi Muralidharan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ghanta, S.R., Muralidharan, K. Chemical synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles. J Nanopart Res 15, 1715 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1715-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-013-1715-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation