Spectral effects in laser induced incandescence application to flame-made titania nanoparticles

Particle size is a crucial parameter in nanopowder use and production. A method to obtain information about this during the particle synthesis would be very valuable in order to optimize the process. In the field of nanoparticles flame synthesis, an extension of the techniques used in soot diagnostics sounds rather obvious, but it is far from being easily accomplished. In this paper investigations on the application of the laser induced incandescence to TiO2 nanoparticles in a flame reactor are reported. The work basically concerns the effects of laser fluence on the spectral structure of the laser-excited radiation emitted from the particles. It will be shown that in many cases such a radiation cannot be plainly assumed as an incandescence signal. Measurements of the signal time decay are reported and interpreted in the light of the spectral indications. Finally, the dependence of such a time decay on the particle size is experimentally demonstrated.