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In this study, the variations of spray characteristics are tested with air-assisted siphon type different size liquid atomizers. The spray characteristics are analyzed considering three atomizers having the same inlet diameter, with different constricted areas and exit diameters for the flow rates of 42, 57, and 71l pm. Three different mixtures of Oleic Acid with Ethanol, and three different mixtures of Di-Octyl Phthalate (DOP) with Ethanol are employed as working fluids along with the six different suction heights. Experimental outcomes show that, for the same flow rates, solution, and suction height, the droplet size changes by varying the diameter of the constricted area and exit area. The change of any area in atomizer changes the level of turbulence in flow that results in the variation of droplet size and its distribution. The increasing flow rate also assists in increasing the droplet size. Since the droplet size distribution decreases with the increasing viscosity, the use of DOP and Ethanol mixture increases the droplet size as it is more viscous than the Oleic Acid and Ethanol mixture. It is also noticed that at a constant airflow rate, Number Median Aerodynamic Diameter (NMAD), and liquid consumption rate are inversely proportional, whereas the Geometrical Standard Deviation (GSD) and Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter (MMAD) is directly proportional to the suction height.

A real-time quantitative analytical approach, differential mobility analysis coupled to gas-phase Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (DMA/FTIR), is demonstrated for an aerosol spray-based synt...

Aerosol spray coupled with high-temperature pyrolysis is an emerging technique for continuous manufacturing of nanomaterials at large scale that demonstrates extremely high production efficiency. Current aerosol spray techniques using a tube furnace can only attain a low temperature range (generally 95%), during which salt decomposition and particle nucleation/growth occur. The high temperature critically enables homogeneous mixing of elements in the resultant nanoparticles and the short residence time is key to suppress particle growth and agglomeration. Compared with the traditional aerosol spray pyrolysis, the carbonized wood reactor can achieve a record high temperature (≥2000 K), a much shorter residence time (∼tens of milliseconds), highly efficient, uniform heating, and provide a platform for continuous nanomaterial manufacturing for a broad range of applications.

Chronic lung disease is commonly treated using portable inhaler systems. By design, these inhalers come into repeated contact with the mouth region of patients and are therefore subject to bacterial contamination and ingrowth. To enable the safe delivery of an aerosol from a drug reservoir of such an inhaler, the reservoir needs to be protected from pathogens. Here we demonstrate a self-sealing aerosol spray nozzle, a system that seals each spray orifice on nozzle level in its default closed state and sprays a liquid Rayleigh-jet upon actuation. The sealing mechanism is realized by placing a thin membrane with spray orifices on top of a valve seat. The membrane behavior and spray performance of the self-sealing spray chip were found to be identical to an equivalent non-sealing design. This sealing system may enable the safe reuse of spray chips for multiple spray operations over an extended period, lowering the cost of treatment while increasing patient compliance. QC 20200427

Some of the fragrance compounds in aerosols tend to remain trapped inside the droplets. The ability to capture these droplets would make it possible to desorb and transfer the analytes dissolved within for determination. In this study, we design a novel filter-incorporated needle-trap device and use it to capture fragrance compounds in droplets as well as the gas phase of seven aerosol spray samples. For comparison, thin-film and solid-phase microextraction were also employed to extract gas-phase-borne fragrances from the same sprays. The results revealed that the filter-incorporated needle-trap device enables the extraction of total concentrations due to its ability to trap fragrance-containing droplets, whereas thin-film and solid-phase microextraction are only able to extract unbound compounds present in the gas phase. In addition, the developed needle-trap device provided acceptable results, proving its applicability for the analysis of aroma in other samples, such as beer and soda.

Conventional aerosols sprays contain different Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC). These organic compounds have different properties and can have detrimental impact on air quality. This study investigated the spray performance and variation of the types of Non-Methane VOCs (NMVOCs) expelled over the life of pressurised aerosol spray can. Three types of aerosol sprays – hair sprays, deodorants, and antiperspirants were selected from the solvent-based cosmetic products. Mass Ratio (MR) of solvent (ethanol) to propellant (LPG) for all the products was analysed at pressure decay sequences of 4, 3, 2, and 1.5 bar. It was found that the MR in hair sprays expelled was significantly higher than that of antiperspirants and body sprays by 53% and 54% respectively at 4 bar. As the pressure depleted, however, the antiperspirant and body sprays’ MR decreased while that of the hair spray increased. At the lower pressures (2 bar), the hair spray had the highest MR and antiperspirant had the lowest. This finding is important in evaluating the performance of the delivery pathways of aerosol spray products and will provide insight into the effective design of atomisers with alternative “green” propellants like compressed air replacing LPG as the primary propellant in spray products.

In the foreseen decommissioning and debris removal plans of the damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors, the fuel debris will be broken into small pieces using laser or mechanical cutting techniques prior to removing them from the reactor buildings. Regardless of the technique to be employed, submicron radioactive aerosol particles will be generated and dispersed in the gas space of primary containment vessel during cutting operations. The water spray system has been proven to be an applicable method in removing aerosol particles. However, it cannot remove Greenfield-gap aerosol particles (with diameters between 0.1–1 μm) so effectively. To solve this problem, a new agglomeration method by addition of water mist before spray injection was developed. With preexisting water mist, aerosol particles were expected to aggregate with water mist and form larger-sized agglomerated aerosol-mist particles, which increased the effect of inertial impaction mechanism leading to higher scavenging efficiency. The new method has been verified to be capable of improving the spray scavenging efficiency for the Greenfield gap particles by conducting aerosol scavenging experiments without and with mist in the newly built UTARTS facility in the University of Tokyo. The experiment results showed that the aerosol removal rate increased along with the increasing of mist concentration level. To verify the new agglomeration method in different experiment facilities and to investigate the effects of vessel’s size scale on aerosol collection efficiency, similar experiments were repeated in the TOSQAN facility of IRSN, France. Though the cylindrical vessel in two facilities have same internal diameter, the vessel’s height of TOSQAN facility is 4.8 m, which is larger than the one in the UTARTS facility (2.5 m). The experiment results in TOSQAN facility also showed that water mist has potential to improve aerosol spray scavenging efficiency. The corresponding numerical simulations about aerosol removal by spray droplets without mist in both UTARTS and TOSQAN facilities were conducted to better understand the aerosol removal process, including time evolution of aerosol mass fraction and flow field of the gas phase.

Environmental concerns regarding the disposal of fluid lubricants have led to the application of green technologies to metalworking processes in the form of dry lubricants. These dry lubricants are typically applied as spray coatings that employ the use of nanoparticles. The possible use of graphene in the form of graphene/tungsten disulfide (G/WS2) nanoparticle spray coatings has been examined in this research. The investigation was performed through the use of ball-on-disk tests at ambient temperatures to ascertain the possible application of the aerosol spray coatings to the aluminum forming processes. The coatings proved to possess good adhesion to the Al-Mg alloy substrate. The nanoparticle spray coatings were tested at various graphene to WS2 concentrations and under varying loads. A low steady-state COF was noted for all graphene concentrations during sliding contact under all the loads examined. The durability of the coatings was observed to improve with increasing loads. The low COF was attributed to the formation of wear-induced transfer layers on the steel balls and tribolayers on the coated Al-Mg surfaces. The coating durability was related to the concentration of graphene within the nanoparticle spray coatings and the stability of the tribolayers during sliding contact. The results highlight that the G/WS2 nanoparticle spray coatings could be considered for aluminum metalworking processes.

Aerosol sprays are used in many fields because they are easy to use and low in cost. Because flash-boiling has a great influence on atomization performance and spray characteristics such as droplet diameter and spray cone angle of aerosol spray, it is necessary to adjust the flash-boiling by changing the internal design of the aerosol vessel to obtain the desired atomization performance. Therefore, spray structure formed on the outside of nozzle during both transient and steady state. with various nozzle design and internal liquid/propellant composition ratio were observed in this study. The spray development process was visualized using a high-speed camera and Nd:Yag laser was used to form a laser sheet and it illuminates the internal structure of spray at steady state. In addition, the diameter and velocity of spray droplets were measured by PDPA equipment, which uses a noninvasive method. Selected design parameters were the number of stem orifice and the diameter of under-tap of the valve and vapor phase tap, and the mass fraction of propellant inside the aerosol vessel. As the diameter of the under tap increased, the ratio of the high-density area increased. However, as the difference between the area of the under-tap orifice and the total area of the stem orifice became smaller, the spray cross section area became larger and the shape of low-density region became closer to the concentric circle. In addition, finer droplets were generated in case with large stem orifice & smaller under-tap. The Vapor Phase Tap and propellant mass fraction have the greatest influence on the atomization characteristics of all design parameters because they change the gas phase ratio inside the jet. However, higher propellant mass fraction makes more uniform droplet diameter distribution than increased vapor phase tap diameter.

A novel, simple, and low-cost spray painting technique has been developed for the fabrication of microfluidic paper-based devices. The devices that we developed utilize aerosol spray paint to build hydrophobic barriers and employ a hole puncher to obtain paper-based patterned layers and paper dots without using any specialized instruments (e.g., without a laser cutter). The entire manufacturing process is extremely simple, inexpensive, and rapid, which means that it can be applied broadly. Furthermore, the application of the device to iron detection was demonstrated. A linear relationship between the colour value and the iron concentration was observed from 0 to 0.02 g/L. The developed microfluidic paper-based device for iron detection exhibited a low detection limit (0.00090 g/L), good selectivity, and acceptable recovery.

Cobalt-iron oxides have attracted much attention as electrode materials for supercapacitors. Graphene loaded with cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) nanoparticles can exhibit enhanced specific capacitance. Here, we present three-dimensional (3D) crumpled graphene (CGR) loaded with CoFe2O4 nanoparticles. The CoFe2O4-graphene composites were synthesized from a colloidal mixture of GO, FeCl3⋅6H2O, and CoCl2⋅6H2O by one step aerosol spray pyrolysis. The CoFe2O4-GR composites displayed a morphology resembling a crumpled paper ball, and the size of the CoFe2O4 and CGR in the composites was around 5 nm and 500 nm, respectively. The highest specific capacitance of the CoFe2O4-graphene composites was 253 F g–1.

The high tendency of aluminum to adhere to steel has led to extensive research into the application of lubricants to reduce adhesion and friction during forming processes. The behavior of lubricants like tungsten disulfide (WS2) and graphene oxide (GO) are sensitive to their deposition method. WS2 applied through aerosol spray has been observed to increase its working temperature range. This research aims to evaluate the tribological and durability properties of WS2 and GO (deposited as an aerosol spray coating) at temperatures between 25 °C and 450 °C, using ball-on-disc sliding tests. The spray coatings displayed low COF during sliding contact which has been attributed to the formation of transfer layers on the steel counter-faces and tribolayers on the coated Al-Mg surfaces, while their durability was observed to be related to the stability of the tribolayers. The WS2 spray coating was noted to possess more durable tribolayers, which could be a result of the superior adhesion properties of the carbon-bonded WS2 platelets to each other and the Al Mg substrate.

Graphene (GR) has excellent physical and chemical properties, making it promising for application in supercapacitors. In this study, we report the synthesis of spherical GR (SGR) composed of tens of GR sheets and its application in supercapacitors. Graphene oxide (GO) was first reduced in the liquid phase by using L-ascorbic acid (L-AA), an environmentally friendly reducing agent, and then SGR was prepared using the reduced GO colloid by aerosol spray drying. The reduction of GO in the liquid phase was completed in 1 h. The SGR fabricated by the aerosol process ranged from 2 to 4 μm in diameter. The as-prepared SGR fabricated from GO at pH 2 showed a densely packed spherical morphology and porous structure with a specific surface area of 150 m2/g. The SGR fabricated from the GO colloid at pH 10 showed an improved specific surface area (216 m2/g) and a higher specific capacitance (182 F/g) than the SGR fabricated at pH 2. Considering the environmentally friendly process, the as-prepared SGR is a highly promising material for supercapacitors.

Vanadium oxide (VxOy) nanostructured films were prepared by Aerosol Spray Pyrolysis technique with different concentrations of precursor solution (0.005 M, 0.01 M, 0.02 M), using ammonium metavanadate (NH4VO3) as precursor. The deposition was carried out onto glass substrates (Corning glass) at two different substrate temperatures (300 °C and 400 °C). Furthermore, oxalic acid was added to the precursor solution in order to grow the thermochromic VO2(M) monoclinic phase via reduction of the Vanadium oxides in which Vanadium is in a higher oxidizing state. All films were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction technique and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy to identify their structural and optical properties, respectively. V2O5 films were tested against ozone, having a sensitivity of 29% in ultra-low concentration of 5ppb ozone, at room temperature. Moreover, nanostructured VO2 films appeared to be thermochromic, having an IR-switching of about 5% at λ = 2500 nm, upon heating.

Summary Background Hydrogen peroxide and ozone have been used as chemical decontamination agents for N95 masks during supply shortages. If left behind on the masks the residues of both chemicals are representing a potential health hazard by skin contact and respiratory exposure. Aim Characterization of hydrogen peroxide and ozone residues on mask surfaces after chemical decontamination. Methods Various N95 masks were decontaminated using two commercial systems employing either aerosol spray or vaporization of hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ozone. Following the decontamination, the masks were aired out to eliminate moisture and potential chemical residues. The residual hydrogen peroxide and ozone were monitored in the gas phase above the mask surface, and hydrogen peroxide residue directly on mask surfaces using a colorimetric assay. Findings After decontamination, hydrogen peroxide and ozone were detectable in the gas phase in the vicinity of masks even after five hours (h) of aeration. Hydrogen peroxide was also detected on all studied masks, and levels up to 56 mg per mask were observed after 0.5 h of aeration. All residues gradually decreased with aeration, likely due to decomposition and vaporization. Conclusion Hydrogen peroxide and ozone were present on N95 masks after decontamination. With appropriate aeration, the gaseous residue levels in the vicinity of the masks decreased to permissible levels as defined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The reliable assays to monitor these residues are crucial to ensure the safety of the mask users.

We report a spray deposition technique for patterning liquid metal alloys to form stretchable conductors, which can then be encapsulated in silicone elastomers via the same spraying procedure. While spraying has been used previously to deposit many materials, including liquid metals, this work focuses on quantifying the spraying process and combining it with silicones. Spraying generates liquid metal microparticles (~5 μm diameter) that pass through openings in a stencil to produce traces with high resolution (~300 µm resolution using stencils from a craft cutter) on a substrate. The spraying produces sufficient kinetic energy (~14 m/s) to distort the particles on impact, which allows them to merge together. This merging process depends on both particle size and velocity. Particles of similar size do not merge when cast as a film. Likewise, smaller particles (&lt, 1 µm) moving at the same speed do not rupture on impact either, though calculations suggest that such particles could rupture at higher velocities. The liquid metal features can be encased by spraying uncured silicone elastomer from a volatile solvent to form a conformal coating that does not disrupt the liquid metal features during spraying. Alternating layers of liquid metal and elastomer may be patterned sequentially to build multilayer devices, such as soft and stretchable sensors.

(1) Background: Inhalant abuse and misuse are still widespread problems. 1,1-Difluoroethane abuse is reported to be potentially fatal and to cause acute and chronic adverse health effects. Lab testing for difluoroethane is seldom done, partly because the maximum detection time (MDT) is unknown. We sought to reliably estimate the MDT of difluoroethane in blood after inhalation abuse, (2) Methods: MDT were estimated for the adult male American population using a physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model and abuse patterns detailed by two individuals. Based on sensitivity analyses, variability in huffing pattern and body mass index was introduced in the model by Monte Carlo simulation, (3) Results: With a detection limit of 0.14 mg/L, the median MDT was estimated to be 10.5 h (5th&ndash, 95th percentile 7.8&ndash, 12.8 h) after the 2-h abuse scenario and 13.5 h (10.5&ndash, 15.8 h) after the 6-h scenario. The ranges reflect variability in body mass index and hence amount of body fat, (4) Conclusions: Our simulations suggest that the MDT of difluoroethane in blood after abuse ranges from 7.8 to 15.8 h. Although shorter compared to many other drugs, these MDT are sufficient to allow for testing several hours after suspected intoxication in a patient.

Cost effective anode material with rational design is of significance for rechargeable potassium ion batteries (KIBs). Graphite anode currently still suffers unfavorable rate capability and moderate cycling stability. In this work, we report a mesoporous carbon sphere with rich porous structure as an anode material for KIBs with the assistance of an aerosol spray technology. The as-developed carbon spheres exhibit a well-defined spherical structure with favorable surface area of 1106.32 m2 g−1. Furthermore, the effect of different electrolytes on the electrochemical performance of the carbon anode has been investigated systematically. As expected, the carbon material shows excellent potassium storage performance in terms of improved specific capacity of 188.2 mAh g−1, rate capability and prolonged cyclability with a high capacity of 105.3 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at a rate of 100 mA g−1 toward potassium storage in KFSI based carbonate electrolyte.

Techniques that enable the spatial arrangement of living cells into defined patterns are broadly applicable to tissue engineering, drug screening, and cell–cell investigations. Achieving large‐scale patterning with single‐cell resolution while minimizing cell stress/damage is, however, technically challenging using existing methods. Here, a facile and highly scalable technique for the rational design of reconfigurable arrays of cells is reported. Specifically, microdroplets of cell suspensions are assembled using stretchable surface‐chemical patterns which, following incubation, yield ordered arrays of cells. The microdroplets are generated using a microfluidic‐based aerosol spray nozzle that enables control of the volume/size of the droplets delivered to the surface. Assembly of the cell‐loaded microdroplets is achieved via mechanically induced coalescence using substrates with engineered surface‐wettability patterns based on extracellular matrices. Robust cell proliferation inside the patterned areas is demonstrated using standard culture techniques. By combining the scalability of aerosol‐based delivery and microdroplet surface assembly with user‐defined chemical patterns of controlled functionality, the technique reported here provides an innovative methodology for the scalable generation of large‐area cell arrays with flexible geometries and tunable resolution., Combining microfluidic aerosol generation and stretchable surface‐chemical patterns, a facile method for “micro‐assembly of cells‐in‐droplets,” (µACD) is demonstrated. µACD enables the generation of large‐area cell arrays with tunable geometries and controllable cell loading. This technique has immediate application in cell biology and drug screening with future impacts on the fields of tissue engineering and mechanobiology.

Stringent regulation is endorsed to restrict global gaseous and particulate vehicle emissions by adapting advanced catalytic systems on the exhaust, incorporating costly platinum group metals (PGM) for oxidation catalysis. Porous silica and alumina particles are synthesized in the present work via a one-step aerosol spray route. The particles are doped with Pt, Ce and Na and are evaluated with respect to their pore size distribution, exhibiting surface areas between 6-269 m2/gr. The particles have been evaluated in a packed bed reactor with respect to NO oxidation in presence or absence of hydrocarbons (C2H4) in order to study the hydrocarbon inhibition effect on oxidation kinetics, showing higher conversion curves for higher surface area samples. The current work studies also the correlation between reactant accessibility to the in-pore Pt nanoparticles and catalytic activity by reaction kinetic model.

Research interest in eliminating airborne aerosol particles has been growing for decades. Aerosol particles with aerodynamic diameters between 0.2 and 1 μm are difficult to remove by traditional spray systems. To improve the aerosol scavenging efficiency, a new method is proposed that employs the addition of water mist. Water mist is supposed to aggregate with aerosol particles to form large-sized coagulated aerosol-mist particle clusters, which can subsequently be removed by spray droplets with a higher efficiency. To investigate the effect of the vessel's size scale on the aerosol collection efficiency, aerosol spray scavenging experiments without and with water mist were conducted in both the UTARTS facility and TOSQAN facility. The cylindrical vessels of the two facilities have the same internal diameter, but the vessel of the TOSQAN facility has a larger height. Experimental results show that water mist has the potential to improve aerosol scavenging efficiency in both facilities but to a higher degree inside the TOSQAN facility. Numerical simulations of aerosol removal by spray droplets without mist were conducted, and different scaling criteria for the geometry of the vessel and gaseous entrainment rate were discussed to explain the experimental results. With water mist, the coagulated aerosol-mist particles have a stronger inertia and a larger Stokes number; these particles are easier to capture by using spray droplets and a water film. The contribution of the spray injection height, spray spread volume, and water film to aerosol removal in cases with mist increased to a larger degree than that of the gaseous entrainment rate, finally resulting in a higher improvement ratio of aerosol removal efficiency in the TOSQAN facility.

Porous titanium dioxide (TiO2) microspheres (MS) were prepared by a facile ultrasonic spray pyrolysis process with commercial colloidal silica as a sacrificial template. The morphology structure, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface areas and pore size distribution of TiO2 microspheres were studied by changing the content and diameter of the silica template in detail. These porous micro-sized MS are composed of anatase TiO2 nanocrystallites of 5–10 nm and have unique bimodal mesopores. The largest specific surface area of 112.3 m2/g has been achieved using 60 wt% 20 nm silica as a template. When used as photocatalysts, the best photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared porous MS is comparable to commercial P25 nanopowders. Moreover, the micro-size and tailored properties from the design that appear during the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis process give these porous MS a promising application in photocatalytic reaction.

Constructing a porous architecture is a considerable strategy to enhance the catalytic activity of metal oxides catalysts for CO oxidation. In this work, we have developed porous sponge-like Fe2O3 microspheres by employing a facile aerosol spray pyrolysis. The NaNO3 salt in the spray solution plays a crucial role as a fluxing sacrifice template in the formation of the sponge-like structure, in which a high surface area of 216.2 m2 g−1 and an average pore size of 4 nm are obtained. This novel Fe2O3 catalyst exhibits an improved catalytic activity compared to usual iron oxides catalysts. Nearly 50% CO conversion at a relatively low temperature of 200 °C and 100% CO conversion at 300 °C at a space velocity of 60 000 ml h−1 g−1 are achieved. Furthermore, it displays an outstanding catalytic stability without distinct decay for 1000 min in a continuous stream at 300 °C. In addition to the effect of plentiful adsorption sites for the gas reactant, the promoted catalytic performance is also attributed to the function of abundant OH groups rooted in the large surface of the sponge-like structure, which induces faster reaction rate of CO oxidation via a bicarbonate route.

Today, urbanised people spend most of their time in indoor environments, and the risk of exposure to toxic materials in an indoor environment is of great concern. This paper considers sources for t...

The present work relates to the synthesis of iron and iron oxide based particles via Aerosol Spray Pyrolysis; a continuous and scalable aerosol synthesis method. Different process parameters included the temperature of reactor synthesis, flow rate/type of carrier gas and post treatment temperature as well as precursor solution chemistry, concentration, solvent and reactant type and such parameters are evaluated with respect to their effect on the synthesized particles crystallinity, morphology, iron oxidation state and mean particle diameter of produced powders. Three different iron precursor sources are employed: chloride, nitrate and a dispersible gel derived from a steel industry byproduct. Iron nitrate and chloride aqueous solutions were sprayed at four different concentrations in order to evaluate the effect of the nature of the iron precursor salt on the main attributes of the particle synthesized. Particle diameter was calculated theoretically based on models from the literature describing nucleation at the droplet level, while mean diameter of the synthesized particles was experimentally measured on line at the exit of the reactor. Ex situ TEM characterization provided the necessary morphological data to elaborate on the mechanisms of produced particles formation and explain observed deviations from the theoretically calculated mean particle diameter values.

The implementation of efficient hole blocking layers (BLs) is of vital importance to achieve high efficiency in solar cells using organolead trihalide materials as the solar light absorber. BLs permit electronic charge separation and avoid the recombination of charges by blocking the hole transfer to the anode. In this study, BLs have been prepared by aerosol spray pyrolysis and spin-coating using various solution compositions. The morphological, optical, microstructural and crystalline properties as well as the phase composition of these layers have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and optical measurements. Their blocking ability has been evaluated by cyclic voltammetry. A strong relationship has been found between these properties and the solar cell J–V characteristics and performances. Overall, we figured out that the sprayed BLs were thin, highly compact, covering, and conformal. No cracks or pinholes were found because the precursor underwent degradation and con...

A process for production of micrometer-sized particles composed of uranium oxide using aerosol spray pyrolysis is characterized with respect to the various production parameters. The aerosol is generated using a vibrating orifice aerosol generator providing monodisperse droplets, which are oxidized in a subsequent heat treatment. The final particles are characterized with microanalytical methods to determine size, shape, internal morphology, and chemical and structural properties in order to assess the suitability of the produced particles as a reference material for microanalytical methods, in particular, for mass spectrometry. It is demonstrated that physicochemical processes during particle formation and the heat treatment to chemically transform particles into an oxide strongly influence the particle shape and the internal morphology. Synchrotron μ-X-ray based techniques combined with μ-Raman spectroscopy have been applied to demonstrate that the obtained microparticles consist of a triuranium octoxide phase. Our studies demonstrate that the process is capable of delivering spherical particles with determined uniform size and elemental as well as chemical composition. The particles therefore represent a suitable base material to fulfill the homogeneity and stability requirements of a reference material for microanalytical methods applied in, for example, international safeguards or nuclear forensics.

TiO2 mesocrystals significantly enhanced the charge separation owing to the oriented superstructures (less internal defects) and porous properties (more active sites), which was useful for applications from photocatalysis to optoelectronics. In this work, ultrasound assisted aerosol-spray method followed by topotactic transformations was adopted to fabricate TiO2 hierarchical hollow microspheres. The unique structure was assembled by TiO2 mesocrystal nanosheets. The TiO2 mesocrystal hollow microspheres can greatly improve the photocatalytic performance. Furthermore, with the addition of Au3+ species in the precursor solution, ultrafine Au nanoparticles (3–4 nm) were uniformly deposited on the surface of TiO2 hollow microspheres. It shows great significance for the development and application of the TiO2 mesocrystals.

The increasing demand for energy storage has motivated the search for highly efficient electrode materials for use in rechargeable batteries with enhanced energy density and longer cycle life. One of the most promising strategies for achieving improved battery performance is altering the architecture of nanostructured materials employed as electrode materials in the energy storage field. Among numerous synthetic methods suggested for the fabrication of nanostructured materials, aerosol spray techniques such as spray pyrolysis, spray drying, and flame spray pyrolysis are reliable, as they are facile, cost-effective, and continuous processes that enable the synthesis of nanostructured electrode materials with desired morphologies and compositions with controlled stoichiometry. The post-treatment of spray-processed powders enables the fabrication of oxide, sulfide, and selenide nanostructures hybridized with carbonaceous materials including amorphous carbon, reduced graphene oxide, carbon nanotubes, etc. In this article, recent progress in the synthesis of nanostructured electrode materials by spray processes and their general formation mechanisms are discussed in detail. A brief introduction to the working principles of each spray process is given first, and synthetic strategies for the design of electrode materials for lithium-ion, sodium-ion, lithium–sulfur, lithium–selenium, and lithium–oxygen batteries are discussed along with some examples. This analysis sheds light on the synthesis of nanostructured materials by spray processes and paves the way toward the design of other novel and advanced nanostructured materials for high performance electrodes in rechargeable batteries of the future.