LTCC-3D FLOW FOCUSING FLUIDIC MICROREACTOR FOR NANOPARTICLE FABRICATION AND PRODUCTION SCALE-OUT

Abstract

Miniaturization of chemical processes is becoming a must for green chemistry and sustainable industry processes, so technological research in this direction is well received. Continuous microreactor systems hold many potential benefits over batch reactors allowing: high surface-to-volume ratio, fine adjustment of chemical reaction residence times, small thermal inertia and fast changes in temperature. Advantages of multilayer green ceramics for microprocess applications include: LTCC substrate is chemically inert to most solvents, it has a high contact angle, presents low thermal coefficient of expansion, can withstand high operational temperatures and high internal pressures. For these reasons, LTCC-based microsystem technologies allow the implementation of different unitary operations for chemical process, making it an enabling technology for the miniaturization of chemical processes. In fact, recently LTCC microfluidic reactors have been used to produce micro and nanoparticles with excellent control of size distribution and morphology. The present work provides a report on the performance of a 3D LTCC flow focusing Microfluidic reactor designed to fabricate Nanoparticles using nano precipitation through an anti-solvent, with electric potential size tuning. We also implement an approach to nanoparticle production scale-out.