Synthesis of silica nanopowders in a microwave plasma

In the synthesis of silica nanopowders in a microwave plasma, the rate of feeding precursor materials has no dominant effect on the average size of SiO2 particles, but varying the precursor material can affect significantly that size. Tetrachlorosilane and tetraethyl orthosilicate served as precursors in the preparation of silica nanopowders. Larger particles resulted when the precursor was altered to TEOS. The SiO2 nanopowders were characterized with a transmission electron microscope and X-ray diffraction.