The Effect of Surfactant on Colloidal Stability, Oxidation and Optical Properties of Aluminum Nanoparticles Prepared via Dc Arc Discharge in Water

Aluminum nanoparticles can be used in different applications such as high energetic materials and hydrogen producing. In this research aluminum nanoparticles were synthesized using DC arc discharge, and colloidal stability, oxidation and optical properties of the particles with and without the presence of surfactant were investigated. The liquids were deionized water without any surfactant, and 0.1M, 0.02M and 0.004M solutions of Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) in deionized water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-visible spectroscopy, were employed for characterization of particles size, shape, crystal structure and optical properties respectively. Solving the surfactant in water, resulted to a notable increase in the stability of the particles for 48 hours after synthesis. The particles size were decreased from 37nm, to 35nm, 28nm and 24 nm respectively in pure water, 0.1M, 0.02M and 0.004M solutions of SDS in deionized water. Moreover optical extinction spectra show, oxidation rate was decreased by increasing the SDS concentration. Adding the surfactant to arc discharge media, provides a simple and effective approach to control the size, colloidal stability and oxidation rate of the nanoparticles in this fast synthesis method. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).