We can't use a sieve/mesh because the smallest particle size it could reduce the biochar to is 6 microns. Is there a way to reduce it to nanometers?
We are planning to use biochar as a substitute for carbon black in making marker inks.
Coal is easy to grind, so it is quite easy to obtain its submicron particles by wet grinding in conventional ball mills with a ball size of less than 10 mm. For a particle size of tens of nanometers, grinding can be carried out in bead mills.
Mikyla Manzano Thank you for your question. A little research on RG will show that it's been asked and answered in different ways many times. Take a look at:
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_overcome_dispersion_issues_faced_while_re-suspending_powder_nanoparticles
https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_the_agglomerated_green_nanoparticles_can_restored_into_nano_size_particles
The basic answer is that you cannot. Google 'comminution limit':
Article Comminution limit (CL) of particles and possible implication...
One overall webinar (registration needed) is this one:
Dispersion and nanotechnology
https://www.malvernpanalytical.com/en/learn/events-and-training/webinars/W190528DispNanoMat
'The micron scale is volumetrically 109 times larger than the nanoscale. Confusing microtechnology with molecular technology is like confusing an elephant with a ladybug' K Eric Drexler quoted in Ed Regis Nano: the emerging science of nanotechnology' Little, Brown and Company, 1st Edition pp 207 - 208 (1995)
2 quotes from those much greater than I:
'I think dry nanotechnology is probably a dead-end' Rudy Rucker Transhumanity Magazine (August 2002)
‘If the particles are agglomerated and sub-micron it may be impossible to adequately disperse the particles……‘The energy barrier to redispersion is greater if the particles have been dried. Therefore the primary particles must remain dispersed in water….’ J H Adair, E. Suvaci, J Sindel, “Surface and Colloid Chemistry” Encyclopedia of materials: Science and Technology pp 8996 - 9006 Elsevier Science Ltd. 2001 ISBN 0-08-0431526
I think one method for reducing the particle size of biochar to nanometers is through a process called mechanochemical activation. This process uses a mechanical force, such as vibrational energy, to break down the particles into smaller pieces. This process can reduce the particle size to nanometers. Another method is to use an air jet or ultrasonic homogenizer. These devices use high pressure air or sound waves to break down the particles into smaller pieces. This can reduce the particle size to nanometers as well.
Peter Donkor Sorry, but none of the processes you mention will reduce a powder to nanometers…. Unless of course you consider 1000 nm = 1 micron. Google comminution limit and read the paper in my answer above. There’s a lower size for each material where it will plastically deform and not fracture and where recombination is balanced by fracture.
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