ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Role of reactive species in processing materials at laboratory temperature by spray plasma devices

Mehrdad Nikravech, Kamal Baba, Bernard Leneindre, and Frédéric Rousseau

LSPM-CNRS, Institute Galilée, University of Paris 13, Av. J. B. Clément, 93430 Villetaneuse, France

E-mail: nikravech@lspm.cnrs.fr

Abstract: Processing the aerosol of metal salts in non-equilibrium plasma represents a promising technique that combines the advantages of spray pyrolysis with the high reactivity of plasmas at nearlaboratory temperature in order to produce mixed-oxides and perovskite materials. The aim of this paper is to describe the principles of this new technique and to present the various applications and latest developments. This technique’s capacity to deposit various mixed metal oxides with precise stoichiometry is demonstrated. It is shown that oxidant plasma species play a key role in the chemical transformation of starting materials into oxides at laboratory temperature, while the configuration of the reactor determines the morphology and texture of the deposited layers. Two different reactor configurations are presented. The porous layers of La _x Sr_1−x MnO₃ as the cathode for fuel cells were synthesised in a wave shock reactor configuration, while nanostructured ZnO-Al layers to form a transparent conductive cathode for photovoltaic cells were deposited in the spray plasma reactor of the latest generation for this technique. The experimental results emphasise the role of plasma species in the rate of chemical reactions and in the chemical composition of the deposited layers.

Keywords: spray plasma – perovskite – mixed oxide – nanostructure – photovoltaic – ZnO

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.2478/s11696-012-0158-y

Chemical Papers 66 (5) 502–510 (2012)