Kilogram Flash Joule Heating Synthesis with an Arc Welder

Abstract

Flash Joule heating has been used as a versatile solid-state synthesis method in the production of a wide range of products, including organic, inorganic, and ceramic products. Conventional flash Joule heating systems are large and customized, presenting significant barriers in the cost of assembly, the expertise needed to operate, and uniformity of results between different systems. Even laboratory-scale flash Joule heating systems struggle to operate above 10 g capacity, and they suffer from poor temperature controllability. We present here the use of commercial off-the-shelf arc welders as a superior alternative to standard flash Joule heating systems due to their low cost ($120), ease of use, compact size, high temperature controllability, and tunability. We demonstrate the gram-scale synthesis of a variety of organic and ceramic species using these systems. With the addition of another reactor configuration for only $260, we scale up the synthesis of these products to record rates for the laboratory scale, achieving a production rate of 3 kg/h for graphene and kilogram-per-day production rates for SiC, carbon nanotubes, SnSe₂, and SnS₂.