Precipitation of nanoparticles in microemulsions of different morphology
G. Shanmugavadivelu, J. Zhang and W.F.C. Sager
While microemulsions have recently more frequently been used to tailor the morphology of inorganic nanoparticles, little is known on the factors and mechanisms leading to nanorods, -filaments and -fibres.
We study the particle formation in morphologically different regions of an one-phase oil-rich micro- emulsion. First results on BaCO3 show that the crystal phase and morphology of the primarily formed nanoparticles as well as their aggregation and growth depend on the water-to-surfactant ratio, the tem- perature and the initial concentration of the solid forming reactants. To investigate template-moulding relationships and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms particle formation is studied in detail using (high resolution) electron microscopy, selected area electron diffraction and small and wide angle X-ray scattering.
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Overviews:
• Controlled formation of nanoparticles from microemul- sions, Curr Opinion Colloid Interface Sci 1998, 3, 276
• Microemulsion templating, in: Nanostructured Soft Matter, A.V. Zvelindovsky (Ed.), Springer 2007
Ag
J Colloid Interface Sci 148, 80
BaCO3
Soft Matter days