Multi-step microfludic reactor for the synthesis of hybrid nanoparticles

Abstract

We introduce a multi-step microfluidic reactor for the synthesis of hybrid nanoparticles. As part of this study, nanoparticles composed of chitosan and iron-oxide are synthesized at room temperature by forming sequential droplets of reagents in the microreactor followed by merging and mixing them in a step by step process. The obtained nanoparticles were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and energy dispersive x-ray analysis. Results were compared with nanoparticles of the same composition synthesized with batch-wise conventional techniques. As a result, the obtained nanoparticles showed better size distribution. This microfluidic device can be used for the synthesis of other types of nanoparticles that require multi-step procedures.