Advancing Understanding of New Materials Produced by Atmospheric Plasma Synthesis and Processing of Commercial Products Through Materials Characterization

By adding energy to matter, plasmas enable chemical reactions and interactions that are otherwise impossible or difficult to achieve with conventional techniques. Since 2017, the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Army Research Laboratory (DEVCOM ARL) has started to exploit the feasibility of advancing the frontier of novel materials through atmospheric pressure plasma synthesis and processing. Different materials, including organic deposits, nanodiamonds, and aluminum nanopowders have been fabricated or processed from commercial products by different prototype ARL dielectric barrier discharge reactors built in-house with different experimental conditions and commercial starting materials. This paper describes ARL’s expertise in characterizing the effects of plasma synthesis and processing at the bulk and nanoscale levels by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). As examples, we will show the unique nanoscale morphology and chemical compositions of the outermost surface for commercial core-shell nanoparticles (aluminum and diamond) in different TEM modes and how they correlate well with measurements from other techniques (XRD, XPS and FTIR). The goal is to advance understanding the complex plasma-induced mechanisms through interpreting the experimentally determined morphology and chemical composition at different length scales. This work also demonstrates DEVCOM ARL’s ambition in pursuing new plasma synthesis and processing capabilities through continuous development of feasible methodologies as possible pathways to future new materials.