The Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology scientists have developed a novel method based on the traditional corrosion techniques for the production of highly intricate hollow nanoparticles or cage-like nanostructures, which can be used for industrial processing and medical applications.
Examples of hollow nanoparticles produced by corrosion processes
The application of old processes and procedures used in the production of bulk materials on nanostructures in a more sophisticated manner is now becoming a widespread theme in nanotechnology research.
The researchers’ novel technique is the refined and advanced form of the conventional corrosion processes such as the de-alloying, etching, pitting, galvanic, and the Kirkendall effect. They demonstrated that the refined method is more powerful at the nanoscale, thanks to the large surface area of nanoparticles when compared to that of the bulk materials, thus paving the way for the development of novel materials.
It is feasible to closely manipulate the diffusion and reaction processes at room temperature by performing simple modifications in the chemical environment in order to obtain high stability and yields in structure and form. Hence, these processes are suitable for commercial applications, as they can be easily scalable to the industrial level.
According to the researchers, the novel method can produce a broad array of nanostructures such as noble metal fullerenes, nanoframes, multichamber nanotubes, porous nanotubes, double-walled, multichamber or mutiwalled boxes, trimetallic double-walled open boxes with pores, bimetallic double-walled open boxes with pores, open boxes and much more. Besides their complex shapes, these nanostructures open doors for new possibilities in remediation of impurities, catalysis, drug delivery and even nanorobot’s structural components.