Flowing into the Future: The Promise and Challenges of Continuous Inorganic Nanoparticle Synthesis and Application

Inorganic nanoparticles, such as metallic and metal oxide nanoparticles and quantum dots, have applications in a wide variety of areas including catalysis, energy harvesting, medical diagnostics, and cancer therapy. Continuous flow synthesis allows for the ability to selectively control shape, size, and surface chemistry of nanoparticles, leading to optimised properties for this plethora of applications. Moreover, continuous flow processes result in improved flexibility, safety, scale up, high throughput screening possibilities and less issues with batch failures. Synthesis of inorganic nanoparticles via continuous flow processing gives selective control over concentration, flow rate, temperature, residence time, and allows for a ‘plug and play’ system to achieve the desired nanomaterials. Herein we review the state-of-the art achievements of continuous flow production of inorganic nanoparticles and their applications and suggest future developments that could potentially overcome the limitations of current technologies.