Biological synthesis of Pt nanoparticles in a microfluidic chip and modeling of the formation process withPBMandCFD

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUNDBiological synthesis of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) withCacumen platycladi(C. platycladi) in a microfluidic chip and numerical simulation of formation processes were studied. The effect of volumetric flow rate onPtNPs' size distribution was investigated in detail not only by experimental methods but also by means of numerical simulation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and a population balance model (PBM) combined with reactive kinetics were employed to simulatePtNPs' formation and to calculate the particle size distributions (PSD).RESULTSThe experimental results confirmed the validity of the model and its practicality in predicting the formation ofPtNPsandPSDevolution in the microfluidic chip. In addition, the numerical simulation results also tested and verified the accuracy of the results and conclusions acquired from the experiment.CONCLUSIONIt is concluded thatPSDwas influenced not only by mixing efficiency but also by residence time in the microfluidic chip, and that the two factors were determined by volumetric flow rate. There is a specific volumetric flow rate to achieve equilibrium (optimal mixing and residence time) that results in the average particle size reaching its maximum value. This work provides useful insight into the microfluidic biological synthesis ofPtNPsand the influence of volumetric flow rate on size distribution in a microfluidic chip. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry