Abstract
Microfluidics (MF) is a general term for the new science and technology relating to the manipulation of small volumes of liquid using small channels. It is considered a green technology due to the small volumes of liquid used, which greatly reduces material consumption and waste, thus enhancing safety when working with toxic or exothermic reactions [1]. Waste and energy associated with post-synthesis fractionation of side-products from target products are further reduced because side reactions are minimized in microreactors. Rapid advancement of this technology is opening up new opportunities in many areas of research and development. Microfluidics enables strong control over both the physical and chemical reaction environments, thereby benefiting applications involving materials synthesis. For example, control of chemical concentrations and their gradients within microchannels opens up new possibilities for controlling polymer chain lengths or embedding gradients in bulk material properties. On the other hand, control of physical conditions such as channel dimensions and shear forces enables control over material shape and size. Together, MF provides the opportunity to create materials at the microscale and smaller with controlled size and shape, and allows separate control of surface chemistry and internal properties. The growth of MF as a platform for microscale materials synthesis supports a growing range of applications such as optics, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), biomaterials, self-assembly, catalysis, drug delivery and more.