Makgwane Peter Ramashadi, Ray Suprakas Sinha
J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2014 Feb;14(2):1338-63. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2014.9129.
The development of controlled synthesis protocols of nanostructured materials with tailored particle size and shape has been a significant research area in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Much innovative research efforts had been focused on finding suitable chemical reagents and synthetic methodologies that offer opportunities to produce the desired structure-function controlled nanomaterials. On the other hand, the reactor equipment for the synthesis of these tailored nanomaterials is of prime importance not only at laboratory-scale but also with view of up-scaling the synthetic processes into large-scale productions. Whilst the sequential three-stage scale-up from the conventional process (i.e., lab-scale/pilot-scale/large-scale) using multi-purpose batch reactor is masked with complications, on the other hand, the interface of nanomaterials synthesis processes and continuous-flow microfluidic chemistry has demonstrated relatively superior process performance over conventional technologies. Consequently, the uses of continuous-flow microfluidics systems have recently attracted much research attention as versatile tools for the synthesis of various structured nanomaterials. In this review, we highlight and analyze the key achievements to date of adopting microfluidics technologies for the controlled synthesis of nanomaterials with well-defined structural properties desirable for the intended applications. We devote the significant emphasis on demonstrating the improved potential characteristics features of continuous-flow microfluidics as a capable technology to provide efficient synthesis processes for the production of various nanosized scale structured materials with precise control of the involved chemistry. Moreover, we discuss the novel process window opportunities of hyphenated microfluidics nanoparticles synthesis with the in-situ or in-line structure characterization during synthesis under real-time reaction conditions which provide interesting insights and experimental evidence on nanoparticle growth mechanisms.
开发具有定制粒径和形状的纳米结构材料的可控合成方案一直是纳米科学和纳米技术领域的一个重要研究方向。许多创新性研究工作都集中在寻找合适的化学试剂和合成方法，以提供生产具有所需结构-功能可控的纳米材料的机会。另一方面，用于合成这些定制纳米材料的反应器设备不仅在实验室规模至关重要,而且对于将合成工艺扩大到大规模生产也很重要。虽然使用多用途间歇式反应器从传统工艺（即实验室规模/中试规模/大规模）进行的连续三阶段放大存在复杂性，但另一方面，纳米材料合成工艺与连续流微流控化学的结合已显示出比传统技术相对更优越的工艺性能。因此,连续流微流控系统作为合成各种结构化纳米材料的通用工具，最近引起了很多研究关注。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍并分析了迄今为止采用微流控技术可控合成具有明确结构特性、适用于预期应用的纳米材料的关键成果。我们着重强调连续流微流控技术作为一种有能力的技术所具有的改进潜力特征,它能够为生产各种纳米尺寸结构材料提供高效合成工艺，并精确控制相关化学反应。此外，我们讨论了在实时反应条件下，将微流控纳米颗粒合成与原位或在线结构表征相结合的新型工艺窗口机会，这为纳米颗粒生长机制提供了有趣的见解和实验证据。
