Playing with chemistry in supercritical solvents and the associated technologies for advanced materials by design

Abstract

This publication concerns the design of advanced nanostructured inorganic materials using supercritical fluids. A brief overview of the different experimental and numerical tools, which are now available for the scientific community and engineers, is proposed giving access to a better understanding but also a better control on material synthesis. The versatility of the supercritical fluids route for the preparation of different natures of inorganic materials is emphasized based on the access to numerous solvents, precursors and their associated chemistries. It is possible to produce materials with physicochemical properties, which can not be obtained with other routes and at large scale. All these chemistries give access to a wide range of nanobricks opening a new area for the preparation of advanced materials by design through the development of one pot multistep processes.

Continuous Synthesis of Nanominerals in Supercritical Water

“…The supercritical fluid technology was widely exploited in applications such as extraction, material synthesis, water treatment, material recycling …”

“…More generally, another recent publication allows the better understanding of the synthesis of advanced inorganic nanomaterials using supercritical fluids …”

“…The supercritical fluid technology was widely exploitedi na pplicationss uch as extraction, [10,11] material synthesis, [12][13][14][15][16] water treatment, [17] material recycling. [18] More precisely,s upercritical water (SCW) has become significant as solventf or chemicalr eactions since the 1990s.…”

“…[25] Recent reviews summarize the state-of-art of the continuous hydrothermals ynthesis and applications of inorganic nanoma- terials. [16,27,28] The authors highlight the decisive parameter to produce nanomaterials in ac ontinuous supercritical hydrothermal process:t he boost of supersaturation (ratio of the compound concentration in as olution to the saturation concentration). Indeed, this phenomenon intensifies the nucleation rate of particles leading to the formation of nanoparticles.…”

“…[24] More generally,a nother recent publication allows the better understanding of the synthesis of advanced inorganic nanomaterials using supercritical fluids. [16] Currently,t here are very few publications in the literature describing the environmentalp erformance of supercriticalf luid technology for the synthesis of nanomaterials. Tsang et al were the pioneers in this field with ap ublication of as tudyo n the Life-CycleA ssessment (LCA) of the synthesis of barium strontium titanate in supercritical fluids.…”