Microfluidic synthesis of functional inorganic micro-/nanoparticles and applications in biomedical engineering

ABSTRACT

Engineered micro-/nanoparticles of various physicochemical properties play significant roles in biomedical engineering from biosensing, in vivo imaging, in vitro diagnosis, drug delivery to therapy. Compared to conventional batch synthesis, microfluidics-based synthesis enables precise reaction control, enhanced mixing, and rapid chemical reactions, allowing for the flow synthesis of particles in a controllable, sustainable, and costsaving manner that is attractive to industry. This review focuses on the recent advances of using microfluidic devices for the flow synthesis of inorganic micro-/nanoparticles with specific properties and their practical applications. We highlight the principle and the merits of emerging microfluidic techniques over conventional methods, discuss chemical reactions performed in the microfluidic reactors, summarize and tabulate strategies for the flow synthesis of inorganic particles, and provide the established applications of materials from these microfluidic systems. The challenges, opportunities, and future perspectives of microfluidics in the synthesis and applications of inorganic micro-/nanoparticles are furthermore discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Microfluidic
• microreactor
• inorganic
• micro-/nanoparticle
• physicochemical properties
• flow synthesis
• mixing
• biomedical engineering

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Director’s Transformative Research Award (R01HL137157), National Science Foundation (NSF) ECCS-1509369, 1128677 and 1309686, and Norris Cotton Cancer Center Developmental Funds (Pilot Projects).