STUDY ON NANOMETER ZINC PARTICLES FABRICATED BY GAS EVAPORATION METHOD

Nanometer Zn particles with mean diameters 12-100nm made by evaporating its powders in argon gas were studied mainly by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy.They are collected at various distances and those factors influencing the mean particle size were studied. The optimal synthetic conditions were obtained, i.e., evaporation temperature is 1200℃; argon flow rate is 0.4m3/h; amount of powder charged is 3g;distance from evaporation source is 10cm. It was found that the size of particles was governed by argon flow rate, evaporation temperature, amount of metal charged and distance from the source. The size increases remarkably with distance in the space where no metal vapor exists. This implies that the crystallites grow by coalescence.Electron micrographs and diffraction patterns are reproduced to show the size, shape and state of oxidations. Nanoparticles with definite crystal habits were sometimes observed among those with irregular ones.