Multi-temperature zone, droplet-based microreactor for increased temperature control in nanoparticle synthesis.

Printable electronics and the increased use of nanoparticle products (e.g. quantum dots) has resulted in the rapid development of nanoparticle inks. Microfl uidic reactors ‐ or microreactors ‐ show promise to provide advanced control over size, size distribution and shape for commercial-scale synthesis of nanoparticles. Compared to batch-wise synthesis techniques primarily in use today, microfl uidic technology can provide better control of the reaction conditions, which is the key to controlling the product characteristics. [ 1 ] Handling small volumes of liquid allows better control of mixing, and hence yields more uniform chemical composition. For thermally activated syntheses, reagents can be heated and cooled rapidly and uniformly, avoiding the large thermal gradients typically found throughout the reaction volume in batch techniques. Several high-temperature microreactors for synthesizing nanoparticles have been described in the literature. [ 2 ] Almost all microreactors described to date have a