Plasma-assisted gas-phase aggregation of clusters for functional nanomaterials

Abstract

The application of low-temperature plasma-based methods for the synthesis of functional nanomaterials has been growing for several decades and nanoparticles (NPs) play an increasing role in this effort. NPs have been considered for numerous applications such as optoelectronic energy conversion, electrocatalysis for fuel cells, novel plasmonic materials, electroluminescence, macromolecular self-assembly, supramolecular chemistry, and biomedical applications. The focus of this review will be devoted to NPs prepared by vacuum-based plasma-assisted sources. In the majority of cases, plasma has been excited by a planar magnetron. At first, concisely, the state-of-the-art of plasma-based gas aggregation cluster sources is presented. Then, the stability of the deposition process and enhancement of the production yield as well as tailoring of the composition, structure, and shape of NPs are discussed. In addition, in-flight modification of NPs, the interaction of NPs with a substrate, and deposition onto the liquids are presented.