Microtechnology speeds nanoparticle production

The advance could potentially play an important role in making nanotechnology products more commercially practical.

The approach uses an arrayed microchannel reactor and a ‘laminated architecture’ in which many sheets, each with thousands of microchannels in them, are stacked in parallel to provide a high volume of production and good control of the processes involved.

Applications could be possible in improved sensors, medical imaging, electronics and solar energy or biomedical uses when the same strategy is applied to materials such as copper, zinc or tin.

A patent has been applied for, university officials said. The work, published in the journal Nanotechnology, was done in the research group of Brian Paul, a professor in the OSU School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

‘A number of new and important types of nanoparticles have been developed with microtechnology approaches, which often use very small microfluidic devices,’ said Chih-hung Chang, a professor in the OSU School of Chemical, Biological and Environmental Engineering and principal investigator on the study.