| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2018) | |
| Nanomaterials | Tuesday Sessions |
| Session NM-TuM |
| Session: | Nanofabrication and Nanodevices |
| Presenter: | Emily Roberts, University of Southern California |
| Authors: | E.J. Roberts, University of Southern California R.L. Brutchey, University of Southern California |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
In the past two decades, flow chemistry methodologies have been recognized as a step towards more green and sustainable chemical and material production. As an industrial demand for colloidal nanoparticles increases, there will be an increasing need to scale up and process intensify typical small-scale bench-top reactions. In respect to nanofabrication, continuous flow reactors have efficient heat and mass transport, excellent control of local mixing conditions, improved safety, decreased solvent waste, and are automatable. These advantages address green chemistry values by decreasing or preventing waste, improving the atom economy by increasing production yields, offering less hazardous synthetic methods, increasing throughput, and enhanced energy efficiency.
We will present our recent results on the development of high-throughput, continuous flow reactors for the synthesis of various colloidal nanoparticles. Reactor designs for a wide range of temperatures (150-320 ˚C), using various heating methods (conventional oven, microwave heating, and sand bath), reusable solvents, and one- and two-phase flow will be discussed. The differences between resulting products in terms of yield, morphology, and functionality will also be evaluated. Lastly, the continuous flow methods will be compared to analogous batch reactions to assess the viability of continuous flow nanofabrication methods.