Dielectric barrier discharge plasma-mediated synthesis of several oxide nanomaterials and its characterization

• Plasma mediated synthesis of nanomaterials
• Morphological control
• Influence of materials characteristics in the plasma atmosphere
• Proposed growth mechanism

This study deals with the preparation of SiO2, CuO and RuO2 nanomaterials and RuO2 based nanocomposites using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma. On account of an increasing attention toward the preparation of one dimensional nanostructure in recent days, the possibility to tune the morphology of the above materials by using plasma was investigated. The prepared nanomaterials were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction spectroscopy and particle size analysis. Spherical, cylindrical and nanorod structures were observed for SiO2, CuO and RuO2, respectively. The morphology and the chemical composition of the RuO2/SiO2 and RuO2/CuO nanocomposites were analyzed using high resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. It was noted that interaction of plasma species with each material differs from one another, and thus the materials exhibit different surface morphology. The reason might be the material's physico-chemical properties and in particular, depending on whether they belong to insulator or semiconductor.

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