Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Study of the mobility, surface area, and sintering behavior of agglomerates in the transition regime by tandem differential mobility analysis

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

Abstract

The surface area of nanosized agglomerates is of great importance as the reactivity and health effects of such particles are highly dependent on surface area. Changes in surface area through sintering during nanoparticle synthesis processes are also of interest for precision control of synthesised particles. Unfortunately, information on particle surface area and surface area dynamics is not readily obtainable through traditional particle mobility sizing techniques. In this study, we have experimentally determined the mobility diameter of transition regime agglomerates with 3, 4, and 5 primary particles. Agglomerates were produced by spray drying well-characterised polystyrene latex particles with diameters of 55, 67, 76, and 99 nm. Tandem differential mobility analysis was used to determine agglomerate mobility diameter by selecting monodisperse agglomerates with the same number of primary particles in the first DMA, and subsequently completely sintering the agglomerates in a furnace aerosol reactor. The size distribution of the completely sintered particles was measured by an SMPS system, which allowed for the determination of the number of primary particles in the agglomerates. A simple power law regression was used to express mobility diameter as a function of primary particle size and the number of primary particles, and had an excellent correlation (R2 = 0.9971) with the experimental data. A scaling exponent was determined from the experimental data to relate measured mobility diameter to surface area for agglomerates. Using this relationship, the sintering characteristics of agglomerates were also examined for varying furnace temperatures and residence times. The sintering data agreed well with the geometric sintering model (GSM) model proposed by Cho & Biswas (2006a) as well as with the model proposed Koch & Friedlander (1990) for sintering by viscous flow.

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baskar GK, Landfester, Antonietti M (2000) Comblike polymers with octadecyl side chain and carboxyl functional sites: scope for efficient use in miniemulsion polymerization. Macromolecules 33:9228–9232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Chen DR, Pui DYH, Hummes D, Fissan H, Quant FR, Sem GJ (1998) Design and evaluation of a nanometer aerosol differential mobility analyzer (Nano-DMA). J Aerosol Sci 29:497–509

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng YS, Allen MD, Gallegos DP, Yeh HC, Peterson K (1988) Drag Force and Slip Correction of Aggregate Aerosols. Aerosol Sci Technol 8:199–214

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cho K, Biswas P (2006a) A Geometrical Sintering Model (GSM) to predict surface area change. J Aerosol Sci 37:1378–1387

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cho K, Biswas P (2006b) Sintering rates for pristine and doped titanium dioxide determined using a tandem differential mobility analyzer system. Aerosol Sci Technol 40:309–319

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Derooij R, Vandenende D, Duits MHG, Mellema J (1994) Elasticity of Weakly Aggregating Polystyrene Latex Dispersions. Phys Rev E 49:3038–3049

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fissan H, Hummes D, Stratmann F, Buscher P, Neumann S, Pui DYH, Chen D (1996) Experimental comparison of four differential mobility analyzers for nanometer aerosol measurements. Aerosol Sci Technol 24:1–13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel J (1945) Viscous flow of crystalline bodies under the action of surface tension. J Phys 9:385–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander SK (2000) Smoke, Dust, and Haze. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Happel J, Brenner H (1983) Low Reynolds number hydrodynamics with special applications to particulate media. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague

    Google Scholar 

  • Hiram Y, Nir A (1983) A simulation of surface tension driven coalescence. J Colloid Interf Sci 95:462–470

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hogan CJ, Kettleson EM, Ramaswami B, Chen DR, Biswas P (2006) Charge reduced electrospray size spectrometry of mega- and gigaDalton complexes: whole viruses and virus fragments. Anal Chem 78:844–852

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Koch W, Friedlander SK (1990) The effect of particle coalescence on the surface-area of a coagulating aerosol. J Colloid Interf Sci 140:419–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ku BK, Maynard AD (2005) Comparing aerosol surface area measurement of monodisperse ultrafine silver agglomerates using mobility analysis, transmission electron microscopy and diffusion charging. J Aerosol Sci 36:1108–1124

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meakin P, Donn B, Mulholland GW (1989) Collisions between point masses and fractal aggregates. Langmuir 5:510–518

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nakaso K, Shimada M, Okuyama K, Deppert K (2002) Evaluation of the change in the morphology of gold nanoparticles during sintering. J Aerosol Sci 33:1061–1074

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Namiki N, Cho K, Fraundorf P, Biswas P (2005) Tubular reactor synthesis of doped nanostructured titanium dioxide and its enhanced activation by coronas and soft X-ray. Ind Eng Chem Res 44:5213–5220

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oberdorster G (2001) Pulmonary effects of inhaled ultrafine particles. Int Arch Occ Env Hea 74:1–8

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oh H, Park H, Kim S (2004) Effects of particle shape on the unipolar diffusion charging of nonspherical particles. Aerosol Sci Technol 38:1045–1053

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Reischl GP, Makela JM, Necid J (1997) Performance of vienna type differential mobility analyzer at 1.2–20 nanometer. Aerosol Sci Technol 27:651–672

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogak SN, Flagan RC (1990) Stokes drag on self-similar clusters of spheres. J Colloid Interf Sci 134:206–218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogak SN, Flagan RC (1992) Characterization of the structure of agglomerate particles. Particle & Particle Systems Characterization 9:19–27

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rogak SN, Flagan RC, Nguyen HV (1993) The mobility and structure of aerosol agglomerates. Aerosol Sci Technol 18:25–48

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Seto T, Shimada M, Okuyama K (1995) Evaluation of sintering of nanometer-sized titania using aerosol method. Aerosol Sci Technol 23:183–200

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shimada M, Seto T, Okuyama K (1994) Size change of very fine silver agglomerates by sintering in a heated flow. J Chem Eng of Japan 27:795–802

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tsantilis S, Briesen H, Pratsinis SE (2001) Sintering time for silica particle growth. Aerosol Sci Technol 34:237–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yadha V, Helble JJ (2004) Modeling the coalescence of heterogenous amorphous particles. J Aerosol Sci 35:665–681

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yang GX, Biswas P (1999) Computer simulation of the aggregation and sintering restructuring of fractal-like clusters containing limited numbers of primary particles. J Colloid Interf Sci 211:142–150

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang S.-H, Akutsu Y, Russell LM, Flagan RC, Seinfeld JH (1995) Radial differential mobility analyzer. Aerosol Sci Technol 23:357–372

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Partial support from NSF-NIRT 0304649 and DOD-MURI UR 523873 grants are gratefully acknowledged. Kuk Cho acknowledges support from a McGrath Fellowship from the Washington University in St. Louis. Christopher J. Hogan acknowledges support from a NSF graduate research fellowship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Washington University, Campus Box 1180, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA

    Kuk Cho, Christopher J. Hogan Jr. & Pratim Biswas

Authors
  1. Kuk Cho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Christopher J. Hogan Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Pratim Biswas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pratim Biswas.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Cho, K., Hogan, C.J. & Biswas, P. Study of the mobility, surface area, and sintering behavior of agglomerates in the transition regime by tandem differential mobility analysis. J Nanopart Res 9, 1003–1012 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9243-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9243-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation