Yugang Sun1
Temple University1
The formation and transformation of nanoparticles under reaction conditions are complicated processes because of the involvement of heterogeneous phase events. Probing the kinetics of nanoparticle evolutions becomes essential to control the formation and transformation of nanoparticles rationally. In-situ synchrotron x-ray scattering, including both wide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) and small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), represent a promising technique to follow nanoparticle evolutions. For example, the time-dependent WAXS patterns of silver nanocrystals recorded from a synthesis solution provide the fundamental parameters (i.e., diffusion coefficient of reactive silver species and surface reaction rate constant) that determine the growth kinetics of colloidal silver nanoparticles. The time-dependent SAXS patterns of colloidal iron nanoparticles in the course of oxidation reveal the kinetics of nanoparticle hollowing with three-dimensional configurations.