Next in the "Can Plasma?" series: can plasma make nanoparticles? Yes. And a personal story about how I accidentally discovered some in grad school, why my advisor made me drop it, and the focus lesson that stuck with me.

⏱️ Chapters

00:00 The question, and a story to go with it

00:11 The quick technical answer: yes, from many precursors

00:19 Flame and plasma are both good candidates for a reactive synthesis environment

00:31 Oxidize, atomize, condense onto surfaces to grow nanomaterials

00:59 The nano boom era: every proposal we wrote had "nano" in the title

01:06 The chemists laughed because they were working in Angstroms (sub-nanometer)

01:18 So yes, plasma can make nanoparticles

01:23 The real answer depends on which particle, what purity, what reproducibility

01:30 The story starts  ...