Synthesis of metal-oxide nanoparticles by mechanochemical processing

The application of mechanochemical synthesis techniques to powder processing has attracted increased attention in recent years. In this work the synthesis of ultrafine tin dioxide, zinc oxide and cerium dioxide powders by mechanochemical reaction and subsequent calcination was studied. By using appropriate reaction paths, solid state displacement reactions were induced which resulted in nanopowders of the desired phase dispersed in the matrix of a soluble by-product phase. A simple washing process was used to remove the by-product phase, resulting in nano powders of SnO2, ZnO and CeO2 with mean particle sizes of 40, 28 and 10 nm, respectively.