Some recent advances in the design and the use of miniaturized droplet-based continuous process: Applications in chemistry and high-pressure microflows

摘要

This mini-review focuses on two different miniaturizing approaches: the first one describes the generation and use of droplets flowing within a millifiuidic tool as individual batch microreactors. The second one reports the use of high pressure microfiows in chemistry. Millifiuidics is an inexpensive, versatile and easy to use approach which is upscaled from microfiuidics. It enables one to produce hierarchically organized multiple emulsions or particles with a good control over sizes and shapes, as well as to provide a convenient data acquisition platform dedicated to slow or rather fast chemical reactions, i.e., from hours to a few minutes. High-pressure resistant devices were recently fabricated and used to generate stable droplets from pressurized fluids such as supercritical fluid-liquid systems. We believe that supercritical microfiuidics is a promising tool to develop sustainable processes in chemistry.