Title: Nanomanufacturing with Low-Temperature Plasmas

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2022 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Abstract: Advanced manufacturing strategies have immense potential to reduce time and production costs for a range of applications. Meanwhile, the multiple functionalities and small size of nanomaterials can influence the versatility and capabilities of many devices including solar cells and solid-state lighting, energy conversion technologies and batteries, wearable electronics, and coatings. Combining advanced manufacturing with nanotechnology opens the door to exciting applications based on thin films and microstructures, with on-demand tunable functionality. One promising route to achieving advanced nanomanufacturing is to use low-temperature plasmas for synthesis of nanoparticles, together with advanced manufacturing methods which are compatible with roll-to-roll or additive printing methods. I will present my group’s recent work on using low-temperature radiofrequency plasmas for synthesis of nanocrystals, and the merger of this synthesis technique with an additive manufacturing approach to deposition for tunable-property nanoparticle layers and patterns. The low-temperature synthesis of otherwise difficult-to-make semiconductor nanoparticles is uniquely paired with direct deposition onto arbitrarily chosen substrates – including temperature-sensitive materials such as polymers – for versatile deposition with on demand property modulation. I will share our exploration of parameters such as ambient environment, pressure, radiofrequency power, and aerodynamic/electrostatic focusing for controlling the properties of the silicon nanoparticles and the layer deposition characteristics, as well as present ongoing research on other low temperature plasma reactors for nanoparticle synthesis.