(228a) Effect of Ammonium Nitrate in the Avergae Size Reduction of Nanoparticles of Silver, Nickel

Nanoparticles of silver in the size range of 100-200 nm were synthesized by flash pyrolysis. Ammonium nitrate was added to aqueous silver nitrate solution, and was subjected to flash pyrolysis in a reactor tube. The ammonia gas generated in the reactor tube by the disintegration of ammonium nitrate at pyrolysis temperature of 700-900 °C was effective in breaking the aerosol droplet produced from the atomizer. It was observed that ammonia gas released in the process acted as a surfactant by breaking the aerosol and the resulting nanoparticles synthesized were in the size range of 10-20 nm. The operating parameters such as the solution concentration and atomizer power were maintained the same with and without the usage of ammonium nitrate in silver nitrate and both the results were compared to see the impact of ammonium nitrate surfactant on the aerosol droplet in reducing the size of the nanoparticle. It was observed that for the same set of conditions, when ammonium nitrate was used, a considerable size reduction occurred from 200 nm to 20 nm due to the presence of ammonia gas in the reactor.