Circular economies require the use of sustainable pathways for processing of advanced materials. While significant advances have been made in discovery and processing of novel materials that have innovative functionalities, rarely is attention provided to a holistic analysis to ensure these processes are sustainable. An aerosol process to produce carbon nanomaterials is described. Comprehensive models that account for particle formation and growth are used to develop scale up methodologies. Comprehensive life cycle assessment of a continuous, single step aerosol approach are compared to the conventional batch pyrolysis techniques for synthesis of high surface area porous nano-carbon materials.

The calibration of CPCs and DMAs needs monodisperse, singly charged, spherical particles. A common way to generate these using silver is the evaporation-condensation method with subsequent sintering to obtain spherical particles. The sintering process reduces particle size drastically, limiting the maximum obtainable particle diameter. An alternative approach to generating spherical particles is the seeded growth using heterogeneous condensation. A Silver Particle Generator (SPG) feeds seed particles into a second SPG, where silver vapor condenses heterogeneously onto the seed particles. Temperature and flow rate combinations of the two SPGs are investigated to achieve spherical silver particles larger than 100 nm.

Magnetic nanoparticles (NPs), particularly superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄), have gained significant attention due to their unique properties and wide-ranging applications. This study presents the synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles coated with polyethylenimine (PEI) via the co-precipitation method to enhance their stability and prevent agglomeration. Further encapsulation of these PEI-coated nanoparticles in organic matrices such as tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) and (3-aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) was performed to facilitate surface functionalization. Aerosol Spray Pyrolysis (ASP) techniques were utilized to ensure the formation of spherical nanoparticles, which are more suitable for drug delivery applications.

This study presents the complex acousto-hydrodynamics associated with surface acoustic wave (SAW) aerosol generation, i.e. investigations of the SAW interactions with a microscale liquid film, comprising acoustic fluid patterning and pattern stabilization, and the liquid breakup mechanisms from the developed spatially arranged liquid micro-domes. The liquid atomization zone on the piezoelectric substrate, i.e., the zone of SAW-fluid interaction and the aerosol origin on a straightforward SAW atomization chip is optically visualized by an ultra-high-speed camera. As one of the aerosol generation mechanisms, we demonstrate the presence of micro-cavitation driven by a SAW at a frequency of 43 MHz.