Accessing ultrashort reaction times in particle formation with SAXS experiments: ZnS precipitation on the microsecond time scale.

Precipitation of zinc sulfide particles is a very rapid process, and monitoring of the particle growth is experimentally very demanding. Applying a liquid jet flow cell, we were able to follow zinc sulfide particle formation on time scales down to 10(-5) s. The flow cell was designed in such a way that data acquisition on the microsecond time scale was possible under steady-state conditions along a liquid jet (tubular reactor concept), allowing SAXS data accumulation over a time scale of minutes. We were able to monitor the growth of zinc sulfide particles and found experimental evidence for very rapid particle aggregation processes within the liquid jet. Under the experimental conditions the particle growth is controlled by mass transfer: i.e., the diffusion of the hydrogen sulfide into the liquid jet.