Formation and properties of stabilized aluminum nanoparticles

The wet-chemical synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles was investigated systematically by using dimethylethylamine alane and 1-methylpyrrolidine alane as precursors and molecules with one or a pair of carboxylic acid groups as surface passivation agents. Dimethylethylamine alane was more reactive, capable of yielding well-defined and dispersed aluminum nanoparticles. 1-Methylpyrrolidine alane was less reactive and more complex in the catalytic decomposition reaction, for which various experimental parameters and conditions were used and evaluated. The results suggested that the passivation agent played dual roles of trapping aluminum particles to keep them nanoscale during the alane decomposition and protecting the aluminum nanoparticles postproduction from surface oxidation and that an appropriate balance between the rate of alane decomposition (depending more sensitively on the reaction temperature) and the timing in the introduction of the passivation agent into the reaction mixture was critical to the desired product mixes and/or morphologies. Some fundamental and technical issues on the alane decomposition and the protection of the resulting aluminum nanoparticles are discussed.