A novel approach for complex oxide nanoparticle production: A glowing multi-wire generator synthesis

The availability of a simple, economical and well-controlled method for producing nanoparticles is beneficial to researchers working in various fields of nanotechnology. Many top down and bottom up physical and chemical production processes have been developed for the commercial manufacturing of nanoparticles, however, the bulk of these processes require complex precursors and procedures that affect the performance and applicability of the generated nanomaterials. Additionally, these processes are often expensive, labour-intensive and environmentally harmful. In this study, a novel, well-controllable and economical approach to produce oxide nanoparticles has been established. Iron–nickel nano-oxides were synthesized in order to support the feasibility of the developed method. The generated iron–nickel oxide nanoparticles showed a quite narrow particle size distribution, with the majority of the collected particles falling in the size range between 3 and 15 nm, with a median size of about 5 nm. These produced materials are effective and sought-after candidates for a variety of commercial applications, including catalysis, imaging, optics, medical applications, water splitting, energy research and environmental remediation.