Synthesis of Calcium Fluoride Nanoparticles in a Microreactor with Intensely Swirling Flows

Abstract

Calcium fluoride powders were prepared by reacting solutions of calcium nitrate ( $${{c}_{{{\text{Ca}}{{{({\text{N}}{{{\text{O}}}_{{\text{3}}}})}}_{{\text{2}}}}}}}$$ = 0.3846 mol/L) and potassium fluoride (cKF = 0.7692 mol/L) in a microreactor with intensely swirling flows at a reagent flow rate of 2.1–3.2 L/min. Colloidal solutions were thus prepared, whose settling yielded CaF2 powders with a mean size of coherent scattering domains of about 40 nm. The particles had no crystallographic faceting. An increase in reagent flow rate prevented the formation of agglomerates and improved the grain-size uniformity of the powder.

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