Resonant Acoustic Process-intensified Atomic Layer Deposition Surface Modification Technology of Powder Materials

MA Dingyi; HUI Longfei; HU Yiyun; ZHANG Wangle; QIN Lijun; FANG Jiabin; LI Dan; LI Jianguo; FENG Hao

doi:10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.15.019

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Surface Technology ›› 2026, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (15) : 236-247. DOI: 10.16490/j.cnki.issn.1001-3660.2026.15.019

Equipment Surface Engineering

Resonant Acoustic Process-intensified Atomic Layer Deposition Surface Modification Technology of Powder Materials

MA Dingyi, HUI Longfei, HU Yiyun, ZHANG Wangle, QIN Lijun, FANG Jiabin, LI Dan, LI Jianguo^*, FENG Hao^*

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Abstract

Regarding the issues of high agglomeration, difficulty in deagglomeration, high gas-solid mass transfer resistance, and incomplete reactions encountered during the surface modification of ultra-adhesive powders via Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), the work aims to develop a resonant acoustic enhanced ALD reactor based on the resonant acoustic mixing device. This ALD reactor effectively promotes the efficient deagglomeration and uniform dispersion of ultra-adhesive powders through the synergistic effects of macroscopic fluid mixing and acoustic field microscopic dispersion, overcoming the limitations of conventional ALD processes in surface modification of ultra-adhesive powders and achieving controllable ALD fabrication of high-quality, highly uniform thin films on the surfaces of ultra-adhesive powder materials.
The fundamental process research was conducted on the reactor. Alumina (Al₂O₃) films were deposited on nano-silica (SiO₂) powder surfaces and molybdenum (Mo) modified layers were prepared on ultra-adhesive boron (B) powder surfaces. Techniques such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and electron microscopy were employed to analyze the elemental composition and morphological characteristics of the modified layers on the powder surfaces.
Nanoscale Al₂O₃ coating layers were successfully prepared on the surface of SiO₂ powders, with an average thickness of approximately 4.1 nm after 160 cycles. On the surfaces of ultra-adhesive boron powders, nanoscale Mo coating layers were fabricated, with an average thickness of approximately 7 nm after 3 cycles. The resulting ALD coating layers on different powder materials featured intact structures, uniform thickness distribution, and precise controllability at the nanoscale. The characterization results indicated that the various ALD coating layers deposited on different ultra-adhesive powder materials were structurally complete, uniformly distributed in thickness, and precisely controllable at the nanoscale.
This work introduces resonant acoustic technology into the ALD reaction process for the first time, successfully achieving uniform and controlled preparation of nanoscale coating layers on ultra-adhesive powder materials. It demonstrates that the resonant acoustic process-intensified ALD technology can effectively deagglomerate ultra-adhesive powders, significantly improve gas-solid mass transfer efficiency during vapor deposition, and provides an innovative method and pathway for the efficient and precise surface modification of high-surface-energy, easily agglomerated powder materials with ALD technology.

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atomic layer deposition / resonant acoustic / process intensification / powder materials / deagglomeration / surface modification

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MA Dingyi, HUI Longfei, HU Yiyun, ZHANG Wangle, QIN Lijun, FANG Jiabin, LI Dan, LI Jianguo, FENG Hao. Resonant Acoustic Process-intensified Atomic Layer Deposition Surface Modification Technology of Powder Materials[J]. Surface Technology. 2026, 55(15): 236-247

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