A microfluidic microreactor for the synthesis of gold nanorods

摘要

A microfluidic microreactor for the synthesis of gold nanorods is fabricated using femtosecond pulse laser microfabrication techniques. Femtosecond pulse lasers are able to etch a wide range of materials that are required for a microreactor, from the photomasks to the microheaters. The heating of the fluid in the microreactor is achieved through the design and fabrication of a microscale heating element incorporated onto the bottom surface of the microreactor which is capable of reaching temperatures greater than 130℃. Computational fluid dynamic simulations of the heating profile of an optimized microreactor show increased heating performance with respect to a serpentine microreactor. The synthesis of gold nanorods is demonstrated in the optimized microreactor, based on a flow rate of 0.5 itg min~(-1).