Microfluidic High-Throughput Platforms for Discovery of Novel Materials

Abstract

High-throughput screening is a potent technique to accelerate the discovery and development of new materials. By performing massive synthesis and characterization processes in parallel, it can rapidly discover materials with desired components, structures and functions. Among the various approaches for high-throughput screening, microfluidic platforms have attracted increasing attention. Compared with many current strategies that are generally based on robotic dispensers and automatic microplates, microfluidic platforms can significantly increase the throughput and reduce the consumption of reagents by several orders of magnitude. In this review, we first introduce current advances of the two types of microfluidic high-throughput platforms based on microarrays and microdroplets, respectively. Then the utilization of these platforms for screening different types of materials, including inorganic metals, metal alloys and organic polymers are described in detail. Finally, the challenges and opportunities in this promising field are critically discussed.

Accelerating colloidal quantum dot innovation with algorithms and automation

“…Beyond examples looking directly at semiconductor nanoparticles, a review from Zhou et al explores microfluidic-based high throughput platforms capable of synthesizing a range of nanomaterials, 67 highlighting works that, with thoughtful design, can be transferred across fields. Throughout the rest of this review, the main examples highlighted incorporate systems performing HTE, or have the potential to be expanded further to allow for such a platform.…”

Advances in Microfluidic Synthesis of Solid Catalysts

“…Secondly, the efficient heat/mass transfer in microreactors renders a (nearly) uniform temperature/concentration distribution [81]. In addition, a fine control over the residence time is attainable in microreactors, which is conducive to the preparation of nanomaterials with a narrow particle size distribution and high repeatability between different flow operation sequences [82][83][84][85]. Moreover, nucleation, growth and agglomeration processes can be effectively controlled by accurately adjusting parameters during reactions in microflow.…”

Enabling Technology for Supramolecular Chemistry

“…This optimisation process can also be aided by incorporating Design of Experiments (DoE) to narrow down the number of reactions required. In addition, microfluidic platforms can also be employed for HTS which, when compared to automated platforms and microplates, can significantly reduce the quantities of reagents required for both screening and optimisations ( Zhou et al, 2020 ). Whilst there are very few examples of applying flow, microfluidics, or automated platforms for high-throughput screening in supramolecular chemistry, there is no reason why these approaches could not be adopted for the field.…”