Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01G—COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C01D OR C01F
  • C01G1/00—Methods of preparing compounds of metals not covered by subclasses C01B, C01C, C01D, or C01F, in general
  • C01G1/02—Oxides
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
  • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
  • B82Y30/00—Nanotechnology for materials or surface science, e.g. nanocomposites
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01G—COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C01D OR C01F
  • C01G3/00—Compounds of copper
  • C01G3/02—Oxides; Hydroxides
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01G—COMPOUNDS CONTAINING METALS NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C01D OR C01F
  • C01G49/00—Compounds of iron
  • C01G49/02—Oxides; Hydroxides
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
  • B01J23/00—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00
  • B01J23/10—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00 of rare earths
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
  • B01J23/00—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00
  • B01J23/70—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00 of the iron group metals or copper
  • B01J23/72—Copper
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
  • B01J23/00—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00
  • B01J23/70—Catalysts comprising metals or metal oxides or hydroxides, not provided for in group B01J21/00 of the iron group metals or copper
  • B01J23/74—Iron group metals
  • B01J23/745—Iron
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B01—PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL
  • B01J—CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROCESSES, e.g. CATALYSIS OR COLLOID CHEMISTRY; THEIR RELEVANT APPARATUS
  • B01J35/00—Catalysts, in general, characterised by their form or physical properties
  • B01J35/20—Catalysts, in general, characterised by their form or physical properties characterised by their non-solid state
  • B01J35/23—Catalysts, in general, characterised by their form or physical properties characterised by their non-solid state in a colloidal state
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B82—NANOTECHNOLOGY
  • B82Y—SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES
  • B82Y40/00—Manufacture or treatment of nanostructures
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01P—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO STRUCTURAL AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOLID INORGANIC COMPOUNDS
  • C01P2002/00—Crystal-structural characteristics
  • C01P2002/70—Crystal-structural characteristics defined by measured X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction data
  • C01P2002/72—Crystal-structural characteristics defined by measured X-ray, neutron or electron diffraction data by d-values or two theta-values, e.g. as X-ray diagram
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01P—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO STRUCTURAL AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOLID INORGANIC COMPOUNDS
  • C01P2004/00—Particle morphology
  • C01P2004/60—Particles characterised by their size
  • C01P2004/62—Submicrometer sized, i.e. from 0.1-1 micrometer
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C01—INORGANIC CHEMISTRY
  • C01P—INDEXING SCHEME RELATING TO STRUCTURAL AND PHYSICAL ASPECTS OF SOLID INORGANIC COMPOUNDS
  • C01P2004/00—Particle morphology
  • C01P2004/60—Particles characterised by their size
  • C01P2004/64—Nanometer sized, i.e. from 1-100 nanometer

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a machine for generating nanoparticles of various composition, morphology and dimensions.
• thermo-vector fluids for a long time and with important results there have been used nanodimensioned materials in photocatalysis, photo-conversion, thermo-vector fluids, as molecular markers in biological field and in projecting organic/inorganic nanocomposed systems.
• inorganic solids In the dimensional order of nanometers, inorganic solids have chemical-physical properties which depend only on the dimensions and the shape of the crystals .
• the reduced dimensions lead to a variation of the electronic diagram from a band structure, typical of the macroscopic solids, to a system with discrete electronic levels at band edge.
• the constituent can be, for example, inorganic crystals or super-molecular organic species. In both cases, their nanometric dimension gives the material extremely peculiar and unusual macroscopic properties with respect to the traditional materials ones.
• stirring reactants made up of water, copper nitrate, acetic acid in a beaker or any other open vessel;
• EP 1803497 describes a system and a method for generating nanoparticles in water solution (claim 1 ) , optimized for the uniform deposition of the same on a target surface (claims 6 to 8 ) .
• Aim of the present invention is therefore to provide an apparatus and a method for the production of nanoparticles which overcomes the drawbacks of the methods known at the state of the art .
• the present invention provides nanoparticles of various precursor materials, as better explained in the following description and in the claims, and of variable dimensions, even lower than 10 nm.
• the object of the present invention solves the prefixed aims, since it is a plant for the production of nanoparticles, as better described in the following.
• the reached temperature can vary and reach values greater than 100° by coordinating the working pressure and the temperature suitably so that phenomena of solution boiling are avoided during the reaction at high temperatures;
• nanocrystals of iron oxide, iron, cerium or other metals in spherical or cylindrical shape and dimensions from few nanometers (5-10 nm) up to some hundreds nanometers.
• the characterization of the nanoparticles morphology and dimensions occurs by controlling the process conditions, and in particular pressure, temperature and residence time of the solution in the various process steps.
• the process is practically carried out in the plant for the production of nanoparticles according to the present invention, a scheme of which is shown in figure 7, and comprises a closed reactor (1), configured so that it is supplied by reactants contained in tanks (2, 3) o by means of a metering funnel (11).
• the tanks (2, 3) and the metering funnel (11) can function at ambient temperature, since the solution in the reactor (1) is at ambient pressure .
• the tank (2) can contain water
• the tank (3) contains one of the precursor materials of nanoparticles to be produced, which can be acetic acid which takes part to the generation of spherical nanoparticles with high process yield.
• the metering unit (11) is used to introduce the precursor reactants in the reactor (1) according to the kind of nanoparticles to be generated.
• the precursor reactants in the reactor (1) there can be used copper nitrate or copper acetate to obtain nanoparticles of copper oxide CuO, cerium nitrate to obtain nanoparticles of cerium oxide CrC>2 or iron chloride and/or ferrous chloride to generate nanoparticles of iron oxide Fe 2 0 3 .
• the reactor is further provided with means (12) for stirring the solution contained therein. It is clear that in the reactor (1), it is carried out the step 1 of the previously explained procedure. Out of the tank (1), a suitable thrust means (4) increases the solution pressure in the downstream portion of the plant, up to a controlled value. In the circuit branch downstream of the thrust means
• reactants (6) preferably comprising sodium hydroxide and/or ammonium hydroxide.
• These means for adding reactants can comprise another tank (61), possibly provided with means for stirring the content (611) , and thrust means (62) for increasing the pressure of other reactants up to the pressure in the circuit branch (7) in which the other reactant has to be injected.
• the circuit downstream of the thrust means (4) is configured so that the solution can be re- circulated at controlled speed and pressure.
• the path followed by the solution goes inside a heat exchanger (51), both before and after the solution is heated (5) and additivated with other reactants by means of elements (6, 611, 62) pre-arranged therefor.
• a three-way valve (8) Downstream of the second passage in the exchanger (51) is positioned a three-way valve (8) which can be actuated to adjust the flow coming from the branch (81), directing it again upstream (82) of the pumping means (4) or downstream (83) for the final step of the process.
• the valve (8) can be opened towards the downstream circuit (83) after the solution has circulated a sufficient time to make the desired reaction occur.
• Downstream of the valve (8) are positioned means (9) for the separation of the water from the nanoparticles and for the washing, drying and storage of the nanoparticles (10) produced.
• valve (8) allows to deviate the flow of the solution 1 after this one has reached the desired reaction temperature during the heating step through repeated cycles inside the coil provided with heating bands, and has remained at such temperature for a predetermined residence time. It is clear that in the circuit there are arranged means for pressure and temperature control, whose arrangement is immediate for one skilled in the art and therefore they are not shown in the figures.
• the centrifugation occurs in the vortex (9) in a continuous way in order to separate the nanoparticles from the rest of the liquid solution going out from the synthesis process.
• the separated nanoparticles are then charged in a tank (101) to be washed with ethanol. After stirring and washing the nanoparticles with ethanol in the tank (101) in the portion of the plant indicated as area 10, the next separation of the nanoparticles from ethanol is provided in the separator (102) .
• the washed and separated nanoparticles are then charged in the dryer (104) by means of an automated process.
• the water, contained in the solution where the just generated nanoparticles are dispersed, separated in the separation means (9) can be re-circulated upstream through the duct (91) .
• the proposed plant is advantageous in that it avoids the use of reactors continuously stirred to make the reaction occur. In this way, since the reagent mass circulating is smaller with equal quantity of product, it is obtained a possibility of a more rapid and exact control of the process conditions .
• the residence times can vary between few seconds to many hours according to the composition of the nanoparticles produced.
• the generation of nano-particles of iron oxides and cerium oxides requires residence times at the upper limits of the indicated range.
• the described plant can be applied for the generation in continuous mode of nanoparticles of metallic oxide in powder or dispersed in solution which can be used in any field of interest, for example the deposition of thin coating layers on surfaces, the dispersion of thermo-vector fluids to increase their thermo-dynamic capacity of heat absorbing and to improve their efficiency in the thermal exchange.
• thermo-vector fluids can be used in thermo-dynamic solar plants.
• Other applications relate to electronics, the realization of photoconductive materials, the sensitization, the generations of thermo-electrical materials and super-conductor materials, the implementation of propellants to improve their combustion.

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• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Organic Chemistry (AREA)
• Inorganic Chemistry (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Nanotechnology (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Composite Materials (AREA)
• Condensed Matter Physics & Semiconductors (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Materials Engineering (AREA)
• Crystallography & Structural Chemistry (AREA)
• Compounds Of Iron (AREA)

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• 2011
  • 2011-10-27 WO PCT/IT2011/000361 patent/WO2013061343A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2011-10-27 EP EP11810694.7A patent/EP2802535A1/de not_active Withdrawn

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