Richard Craig, McGee Rachel, Goenka Aditya, Mukherjee Prabuddha, Bhargava Rohit
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Department of Bioengineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA.
Ind Eng Chem Res. 2020 Mar 4;59(9):3730-3735. doi: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b04230. Epub 2019 Nov 5.
Colloidal quantum dots (QDs) offer dramatic potential due to their size-dependent optical properties. Lack of facile synthesis methods for precise and reproducible size and composition, however, present an extant barrier to their widespread use. Here we report the use of droplet microfluidics for the simple and highly reproducible synthesis of cadmium sulfide (CdS) and cadmium selenide (CdSe) QDs without the use of harsh solvents and in ambient conditions. Our approach uses a liquid-liquid barrier between two immiscible liquids to generate a digital droplet reactor. This reaction droplet is easily controlled and manipulated and offers enhanced mixing when coupled to a helical mixer, resulting in a significant reduction in size distribution compared to benchtop procedures. Furthermore, QD characteristics have modeled and predicted based on the parameters of the microfluidic device. We believe this method overcomes the current manufacturing challenges with synthesizing nanostructures, which is required for the next generation of nanosensors.
胶体量子点（QDs）因其尺寸依赖的光学性质而具有巨大潜力。然而，缺乏用于精确和可重复控制尺寸及组成的简便合成方法，是其广泛应用的现存障碍。在此，我们报道了利用微滴微流控技术在不使用苛刻溶剂且在环境条件下简单且高度可重复地合成硫化镉（CdS）和硒化镉（CdSe）量子点。我们的方法利用两种不混溶液体之间的液 - 液屏障来产生数字微滴反应器。该反应微滴易于控制和操作，并且与螺旋混合器结合时能增强混合效果，与台式方法相比，尺寸分布显著减小。此外，基于微流控装置的参数对量子点特性进行了建模和预测。我们相信这种方法克服了当前合成纳米结构的制造挑战，而这是下一代纳米传感器所必需的。
