Computational study of quenching effects on growth processes and size distributions of silicon nanoparticles at a thermal plasma tail

In this paper, quenching effects on silicon nanoparticle growth processes and size distributions at a typical range of cooling rates in a thermal plasma tail are investigated computationally. We used a nodal-type model that expresses a size distribution evolving temporally with simultaneous homogeneous nucleation, heterogeneous condensation, interparticle coagulation, and melting point depression. The numerically obtained size distributions exhibit similar size ranges and tendencies to those of experiment results obtained with and without quenching. In a highly super-saturated state, 40–50% of the vapor atoms are converted rapidly to nanoparticles. After most vapor atoms are consumed, the nanoparticles grow by coagulation, which occurs much more slowly than condensation. At higher cooling rates, one obtains greater total number density, smaller size, and smaller standard deviation. Quenching in thermal plasma fabrication is effectual, but it presents limitations for controlling nanoparticle characteristics.