Microreactor makes uniform particles

Abstract

A newly designed microfluidic flow reactor with multiple outlet ports produces highly uniform product droplets despite variations in input pressures and flow rates (Nat. Commun. 2016, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms10780). Compared with typical batch reactors, miniature flow reactors can provide greater control over mixing and temperature distributions, which are crucial for maintaining product uniformity. A simple approach to scaling up the output of such systems uses an array of parallel flow reactors. But in that approach, variations in reactant pressures and flow rates cause “crosstalk” between the branches of the network, leading to nonuniform products. A University of Southern California (USC) team that includes Noah Malmstadt and Richard L. Brutchey has bypassed this problem by 3-D printing a novel droplet generator with a geometry that is unlike typical T-junction droplet-forming devices. The team used the device to make platinum nanoparticles encapsulated in ionic liquid solvent droplets. They showed that the particles were