Title: Modelling evaporation and chemical reaction in a multi-component droplet from spray pyrolysis synthesis of mixed metal-oxide nanocomposite films

Authors: S.M. Navid Khatami; Olusegun J. Ilegbusi; Leonid I. Trakhtenberg

Addresses: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, 4000 Central Florida Blvd, Orlando FL 32816, USA ' Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Central Florida, 12760 Pegasus Drive, P.O. Box 12760, Orlando, FL 32816-2450, USA ' Semenov Institute of Chemical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kosigina Str. 4, Moscow, 119991, Russia

Abstract: This paper describes the mathematical modelling of transport and chemical reaction phenomena in a single droplet deposited on a heated substrate by spray pyrolysis. The droplet contains mixed salt solutions of tin chloride (SnCl₄) and indium nitrate (In(NO₃)₃) which react on the substrate to produce mixed oxides (In₂O₃-SnO₂) and water residue. The water residue is subsequently evaporated, leaving a thin film of the mixed oxides. The droplet, containing solvent and precursors is modelled using computational fluid dynamics technique. The various stages of droplet morphology associated with surface energy and evaporation are predicted. The transient distribution is also predicted of the concentration of the various species in the droplet. The results show that homogeneous chemical reaction occurs within 60% of the radial distance from the centre. This in turn results in the deposition of metal oxide within that region while a significant amount of unused reactants remains thereafter.

Keywords: mathematical modelling; mixed metal-oxide films; chemical spray pyrolysis; evaporation; multi-component droplets; chemical reaction; nanocomposite sensor films; nanocomposites; nanotechnology; transport reaction; tin chloride; SnCl4; indium nitrate; thin films; computational fluid dynamics; CFD; droplet morphology; surface energy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMMNO.2015.069967

International Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Numerical Optimisation, 2015 Vol.6 No.2, pp.141 - 158

Received: 29 Sep 2014
Accepted: 21 Mar 2015
Published online: 16 Jun 2015 *

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