Surface coating of Al nanoparticles by using a wet ball milling method: A facile synthesis and characterization of colloidal stability

• Surface coating of aluminum nanoparticles by using a wet ball milling.
• Excellent surface coating with coating thickness ranging from 10 to 13 nm.
• A high colloidal stability.
• A general facile synthesis of metallic nano-colloids.

A facile surface coating of aluminum (Al) nanoparticles with various dispersants by using a wet ball milling method is reported. Various mixtures of Al nanoparticles (d = 30–130 nm) and dispersants in solvent were ball milled. The excellent surface coating was observed with coating thickness ranging from 10 to 13 nm. The resulting good colloidal stability confirmed by both visual inspection of colloidal precipitation and Turbiscan backscattering was attributed to a stable dispersant organic layer formed on Al nanoparticle surfaces after ball milling as observed in HRTEM images. This method can be extended to the synthesis of a variety of any other metallic nano-colloidal solutions.