Microfluidic technology provides a unique environment for the investigation of crystallization processes at the nano or meso scale. The convenient operation and precise control of process parameters, at these scales of operation enabled by microfluidic devices, are attracting significant and increasing attention in the field of crystallization. In this paper, developments and applications of microfluidics in crystallization research including: crystal nucleation and growth, polymorph and cocrystal screening, preparation of nanocrystals, solubility and metastable zone determination, are summarized and discussed. The materials used in the construction and the structure of these microfluidic devices are also summarized and methods for measuring and modelling crystal nucleation and growth process as well as the enabling analytical methods are also briefly introduced. The low material consumption, high efficiency and precision of microfluidic crystallizations are of particular significance for active pharmaceutical ingredients, proteins, fine chemicals, and nanocrystals. Therefore, it is increasingly adopted as a mainstream technology in crystallization research and development.

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The crystal nucleation process in solutions plays an important role in both the engineering processes and the physical science. To seek the truth of nucleation, researchers have worked for almost a century from either the kinetic viewpoint or the solution chemistry viewpoint. In this work, the nucleation rate measurement methods, including the deterministic method, droplet based method, double-pulse method, microfluidic method, and stirred small volume solution method, were reviewed, and their advantages and disadvantages were also discussed. Furthermore, problems in the nucleation kinetic investigation were also listed in the end.