Toward continuous production of high-quality nanomaterials using microfluidics: nanoengineering the shape, structure and chemical composition

Abstract

Microfluidic systems are versatile tools to reproduce in continuous flow the size, shape and chemical composition of nanomaterials and to engineer new materials of unique properties.

Recent Developments in Process Digitalisation for Advanced Nanomaterial Syntheses

“…represents a true challenge for the effective scaling-up due to changes in the heat and mass transport properties and mixing when reactor dimensions are increased. [12] Numbering up of microreactor units also poses challenges to generate and maintain stable flow conditions, which are critical to achieve steady state flow conditions that guarantee a uniform residence time distribution. [13] In many cases the materials are produced in relatively small amounts and with a high added value.…”

“…[24] The properties of nanoparticles are highly dependent of size and shape, so constant control of the output is key for properly controlling their synthesis. [12] The chosen techniques must be rapid enough to monitor the changes on real time and sensitive enough at small volumes, also it is preferred that they are non-destructive. [25] This synergy enables to swiftly evaluate the effect of modifying reaction parameters or detecting reaction intermediates otherwise undetectable using offline methods like Gas Chromatography (GC) or High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).…”

Ultra-stable blue-emitting lead-free double perovskite Cs2SnCl6nanocrystals enabled by an aqueous synthesis on a microfluidic platform

“…Microfluidics has been demonstrated to be a reliable and powerful technique for large-scale manufacturing of nanoparticles and nanocrystals. [14][15][16] Compared with the small-scale synthesis of materials for fundamental research, microfluidics can provide continuous fabrication of materials and eliminate the samples' irreproducibility originating from batch-to-batch fabrication. [17][18][19] Currently, microfluidics is used to synthesize Pb-based NCs.…”

Microfluidic Nanomaterial Synthesis and In Situ SAXS, WAXS, or SANS Characterization: Manipulation of Size Characteristics and Online Elucidation of Dynamic Structural Transitions

“…Microfluidic platforms have emerged as attractive, powerful, and versatile tools for various biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, including nanomaterial synthesis, drug delivery, vaccine design, cell analysis, personalized medicine development, and diagnosis [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Among these, the continuous production of monodispersed nanomaterials (including soft lipid and polymer nanoparticles) and hard nanocrystals with controllable sizes and shapes is considered one of the frontline applications of microfluidics in recent years [ 1 , 5 , 7 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ]. Schematic illustrations on the microfluidic synthesis of different nanoparticles attractive for use in the development of nanomedicines or functional food nanocarriers are presented in Figure 1 .…”

“…These nanoparticles were produced through the use of a staggered herringbone mixer ( Figure 1 B) and hydrodynamic flow-focusing (HFF) microfluidic devices ( Figure 1 C,D), respectively. For further detailed information on these microfluidic methods for nanomaterial synthesis and recent advances in this research area, the interested reader is directed to the following recent review articles [ 5 , 20 , 21 , 24 , 25 , 26 ].…”