Parametric study on the stabilization of metal oxide nanoparticles in organic solvents: A case study with indium tin oxide (ITO) and heptane

Zayed Almansoori; Behnam Khorshidi; Behnam Sadri; Mohtada Sadrzadeh

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2017.09.012

Parametric study on the stabilization of metal oxide nanoparticles in organic solvents: A case study with indium tin oxide (ITO) and heptane

Ultrason Sonochem. 2018 Jan;40(Pt A):1003-1013. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2017.09.012. Epub 2017 Sep 7.

Authors

Zayed Almansoori¹, Behnam Khorshidi¹, Behnam Sadri², Mohtada Sadrzadeh³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10-367 Donadeo Innovation Center for Engineering, Advanced Water Research Lab (AWRL), University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada.
² School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, 315 N. Grant Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, 10-367 Donadeo Innovation Center for Engineering, Advanced Water Research Lab (AWRL), University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada. Electronic address: sadrzade@ualberta.ca.

PMID: 28946396
DOI: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2017.09.012

Abstract

The tendency of nanoparticles (NPs) to form large aggregates has been a major limitation to their widespread applications where utilizing monodisperse and stable suspension of NPs is essential. The aggregation of NPs becomes more challenging when there is less affinity between the dispersed phase (NPs) and the continuous phase (solvent), such as, dispersion of hydrophilic metal oxide NPs into a nonpolar (organic) solvent. The objective of this study is to systematically investigate the synergistic effects of eight dispersion parameters on the size and stability of indium tin oxide (ITO) NPs in heptane. The matrix of experimentation was designed using an L₁₈ Taguchi method. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the experimental results revealed that the most significant factors on the size and stability of NPs were the mass of ITO NPs and the volume of the dispersing agent. Taguchi signal-to-noise (SN) ratio analysis was used to determine the optimal factor levels for the preparation of well-dispersed and stable NP suspensions. Confirmation tests were carried out at the suggested levels of the ANOVA predictive model, and highly stable ITO NPs in heptane with the size distribution of 43.0-68.3nm were obtained. The results of the present parametric study can be used for a broad range of applications where effective stabilization of metal oxide NPs in organic solvents is desired.

Keywords: Analysis of Variance (ANOVA); Design of experiment (DOE); Indium tin oxide (ITO); Nanoparticles; Sonication; Taguchi.