Investigation of The Optimal Synthesis Conditions of Biocompatible Cerium oxide Nanoparticles by Microfluidic chip

Cerium oxide nanoparticles have many applications in medicine. Particle size, shape and concentration of nanoceria are very important for biological applications and biocompatibility. The synthesis method of cerium oxide nanoparticles has an important role in determining nanoceria shape, particle size and concentration. In this project, the effective parameters in determining the concentration, size and size distribution, crystallinity and production of maximum cerium oxide produced from the reactants were simulated and tested.. Since in different method, particle size control has become an important challenge, Microfluidic chips were used to control particle size. Among the existing methods for nanoparticle synthesis, co-precipitation method was chosen Because of its simplicity, cheapness and short time method compared with other methods. Cerium nitrate and sodium hydroxide were used as raw materials to synthesize cerium oxide nanoparticles. Simulations were performed in Comsol and then the results were used for experimental tests, comparison and validation. The nanoparticles were characterized for size and size distribution using x-ray diffraction. The results of this study showed that the use of microfluidic chips is an effective method for controling nanoparticle size. Increasing concentration of sodium hydroxide can complete reaction and have maximum efficiency and decreasing the reactives velocity can reduce the size dispersion, increases the crystallinity and particle size. The yellow precipitate produced, according to Scherer equation, contains cerium oxide nanoparticles with particle size of 1.16±0.1 nm and 85% of crystallinity.