Recent developments in the sonoelectrochemical synthesis of nanomaterials

Md Hujjatul Islam; Michael T Y Paul; Odne S Burheim; Bruno G Pollet

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2019.104711

Recent developments in the sonoelectrochemical synthesis of nanomaterials

Ultrason Sonochem. 2019 Dec:59:104711. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2019.104711. Epub 2019 Jul 29.

Authors

Md Hujjatul Islam¹, Michael T Y Paul², Odne S Burheim³, Bruno G Pollet³

Affiliations

¹ Hydrogen Energy and Sonochemistry Research Group, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: http://www.brunogpollet.com.
² Department of Chemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
³ Hydrogen Energy and Sonochemistry Research Group, Department of Energy and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway.

PMID: 31421622
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2019.104711

Abstract

In recent years, the synthesis and use of nanoparticles have been of special interest among the scientific communities due to their unique properties and applications in various advanced technologies. The production of these materials at industrial scale can be difficult to achieve due to high cost, intense labour and use of hazardous solvents that are often required by traditional chemical synthetic methods. Sonoelectrochemistry is a hybrid technique that combines ultrasound and electrochemistry in a specially designed electrochemical setup. This technique can be used to produce nanomaterials with controlled sizes and shapes. The production of nanoparticles by sonoelectrochemistry as a technique offers many advantages: (i) a great enhancement in mass transport near the electrode, thereby altering the rate, and sometimes the mechanism of the electrochemical reactions, (ii) a modification of surface morphology through cavitation jets at the electrode-electrolyte interface, usually causing an increase of the surface area and (iii) a thinning of the electrode diffusion layer thickness and therefore ion depletion. The scalability of sonoelectrochemistry for producing nanomaterials at industrial scale is also very plausible due to its "one-pot" synthetic approach. Recent advancements in sonoelectrochemistry for producing various types of nanomaterials are briefly reviewed in this article. It is with hope that the presentation of these studies therein can generate more interest in the field to "catalyze" future investigations in novel nanomaterial development and industrial scale-up studies.

Keywords: Nanocomposites; Nanomaterials; Nanoparticles; Power ultrasound; Sonoelectrochemistry.

Publication types

Review