The development of nanotechnologies based nowdays on the assembly (spontaneous (self-assembly) or not) of building blocks that are nanoparticles. The goal is to take advantage of the intrinsic properties of nanoparticles such as their plasmonic capacities, high surface area or reactivity and of their assembly, to obtain new functional devices such as nanofiltration membranes or photonic crystals. In all cases, the first step is to control the synthesis of these objects in terms of quantity, size and distribution. This control cannot only be obtained by the conventional method of trials and errors. The IRAMIS laboratories has therefore developed a mechanistic analysis of the processes of nucleation and growth of these objects by coupling :
- ) controlled reactors (like microfluidics, or laser pyrolisis),
- ) soft chemistry (mainly ambiant temperature and in water)
- ) in situ analysis methods (light, SAXS, WAXS, XAS, SANS) and conventional/atomistic theoretical analysis, to study the synthesis kinetics with the adapted resolutions (in space and time) .
The potential impacts of these nanoparticles on the environment are also studied.
