Nanomaterials have been widely utilized in many energy and environment applications as catalysts, energy-storage materials, sensor, etc. Flame synthesis has emerged as a promising technology to produce nanoparticles in a scalable way with the intrinsic advantages of single-step, no liquid pollution, and scalable production. This method has already been utilized in commercial production of TiO2, SiO2 and carbon black materials.

The objective of the project is to achieve rapid single-step production of advanced nanomaterials with complex architecture, including core-shell nanostructure, atomically dispersed metal clusters, etc. A counterflow burner is used as a flame synthesis reactor for fundamental investigations. In this reactor, two kinds of precursors can be independently fed and controlled by opposite flows with their respective necessary amounts and residence times. The nanoparticle samples can be collected in-situ and analyzed by TEM and XRD techniques. Laser diagnostic methods such as LIF, LIBS and PS-LIBS will be used to gain knowledge about the nanoparticle formation and growth process in a high temperature environment. The project is mainly funded by the Humboldt fellowship of Dr. Yihua Ren.