Nanoparticle generation in glowing wire generator: Insight into nucleation peculiarities

The paper studies nanoparticle formation in a glowing wire generator (GWG), in which the gas carrier flows around heated metal wire, producing aerosols from a vapor released from the surface. The device has been customized, enabling the use of a double-wire in different orientations in regard to the gas flow. Such alterations provided different effective distances between wires enabling investigation of their mutual influence. Concentration of particles produced in the GWG at different parameters (applied voltage and a gas flow) was carefully measured and analysed. Different regimes of a nanoparticle nucleation were identified that resulted from the applied voltage variation and the gas flow direction. In particular, independent nucleation of nanoparticles on both parts of the wire occurred in the wire plane’s configuration perpendicular to the gas flow, whilst dependent nucleation of nanoparticles was observed at a certain specific set of parameters in the configuration, in which the wire plane was parallel to the gas flow. Two corresponding functions were introduced in order to quantify those nucleation regimes and they tend to zero when either independent or dependent nucleation occur. The peculiarities found ought to be considered when designing the multi-wire GWGs in order to further extend the device’s range for industrial applications.