Plasma Nanomaterial Fabrication and Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid development of nanomaterials in the last few decades requires constant improvement with respect to new bulk material processing techniques for nanomaterial production. Bulk material can be crafted and engineered at the nanoscale level by using various techniques. The classical chemical, electrochemical and thermal syntheses and modifications of nanomaterials and nanostructures have some limitations, especially when high purities of material are necessary. The main drawback of classical chemical processes is the shortage of suitable precursors for the fast chemical synthesis of nanoparticles.

Plasma processing of the material can be conducted at various gas pressures, from ultra-high vacuum and atmospheric pressure to high pressures. Plasma produces high concentrations of reactive species that can modify material, remove layers, deposit material on substrates, activate polymer surfaces and synthetize new chemical products and nanocrystals. The unique physicochemical properties of the plasma provide many advantages over other processing techniques. Plasma processing is a suitable technique that is fast, reproducible and ecofriendly and is a relative inexpensive tool for nanomaterial fabrication.

Recent composite nanomaterials materials have drawn the attention of researchers because of the unique physical, optical and electrical properties they possess. Using nanocomposite materials can result in a drastic improvement in properties of a material, such as its mechanical strength, toughness, electrical and thermal conductivity. The application of these materials is widely used in chemical, textile, energy and military industries and in technologies such as electronics and biomedical engineering, which are fast growing and developing. Suitable characterization of so-prepared nano materials will result in its proper application in many fields of industries and technologies.

In this Special Issue, we would like to gather the latest advances in plasma material processing and its applications, with special attention given to using plasma for nanomaterial synthesis.

This Special Issue can be divided into a few topics: 

• Nanostructure plasma synthesis and characterization;
• Plasma etching;
• Plasma assisted thin film deposition;
• Plasma nanopowder synthesis and characterization;
• Modeling of plasma–material interaction;
• Applications of plasma fabricated nanomaterials;
• Plasma activation of material surfaces;
• Dusty plasma for nanomaterial synthesis;
• Plasma and nanomaterial diagnostics techniques;
• Laser plasma synthesis of nanomaterials in gas phase and in liquids;
• Application of plasma synthetized nanomaterials for gas and chemical sensing, catalysis, electrochemistry, biology, medicine and agriculture;

We are eager to see your progress in this specific field of material processing.

Dr. Dejan Maletić
Dr. Jelena Mitrić
Guest Editors

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• plasma physics
• plasma applications
• plasma nanomaterials