Vaporization of Nanoparticles in Dusty Plasmas

In the last 10 years, dusty plasmas have been increasingly explored for the synthesis of nanomaterials. Dusty plasmas are nonthermal discharges, which contain hot electrons and relatively cool neutral gas molecules in the midst of suspended nanoparticles. Dusty plasmas have been very successful for synthesizing high quality ceramic powders comprised of nanoparticles. Metal powders, however, have been more difficult to synthesize. It has been observed that when gaseous metal precursors are fed into the plasma, a metallic film is deposited on the reactor walls; but little, if any, particles are formed. Our hypothesis is that the intense ion bombardment experienced by particles in dusty plasma causes vaporization, despite the low gas temperature. Experimental and modeling results that support this hypothesis will be presented.