Having emerged from basic science, nanoparticles are now applied in many fields of science and technology. Agglomeration is ubiquitous and occurs, often inadvertently, in the formulation of particle-polymer mixtures, during the chemical functionalisation of nanoparticles and even during storage.This dissertation outlines recent studies on the agglomeration behaviour of different gold nanoparticle types. A modular fluidic system was specifically designed to perform the experiments. It enables the preparation of a steady flow of stable or unstable nanoparticle samples. This allows to observe different steps of a time-dependant process in steady state over practically arbitrary times in flow.These capabilities are used in this research to investigate the agglomeration of destabilised aqueous gold nanoparticles, reassess the solvent induced self-assembly of unpolar gold nanoparticles and examine the shear-assisted orientation of gold nanowires. The performance of the system is demonstrated and new insights on the influence of solvent conditions, temperature and the flow field are presented. The relevant process parameters as well as the microscopic interactions responsible for the structure formation mechanisms are discussed.
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