ABSTRACT
Among the many and diverse opportunities for embedding nanotechnology within industrial products is the opportunity to assemble nanostructured films from nano-material building blocks for many emerging clean energy technologies. One promising approach is Microreactor-Assisted Nanomaterial Deposition (MAND™), a continuous, liquid-phase alternative to high-temperature, high-vacuum vapor-phase thin-film production such as sputtering and chemical vapor deposition. MAND processes combine the merits of microreaction technology with solution-phase nanomaterial synthesis, purification, functionalization, and deposition. The use of microreactor synthesis at the point of deposition has been demonstrated to eliminate particulate agglomeration/degradation during processing and storage. At Oregon State University and elsewhere, microreactors have been found to yield reductions in the dispersity of nanocrystal size distributions and increases in macromolecular yields. Microreactors offer exciting opportunities for high levels of process control over nanomaterial synthesis via precise and rapid changes in reaction conditions.
