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. 2021 Jun 29;12(7):768. doi: 10.3390/mi12070768

Table 2.

Advantages and challenges of various nanoparticle synthesis methods.

Synthesis Method Advantages Challenges
Conventional reactors - Simple setup - Low efficiency;
- Poor control on parameters;
- Low reproducibility;
- Agglomeration.
Continuous-flow microreactors - Simple design;
- Relatively simple fabrication;
- High throughput;
- Good control over parameters, and change of parameters in microseconds;
- Sufficient millisecond mixing;
- Uniform particle size;
- High reproducibility;
- Large surface/volume ratio;
- Low sample consumption (as low as nanoliters);
- Potential for non-spherical particle synthesis;
- Potential for automation.		 - Channel clogging;
- Limitation for heat required protocols;
- Taylor dispersion effect;
- Poor solvent compatibility;
- Sometimes expensive tools.
Droplet-based microreactors - High throughput (thousands per second);
- Uniform and tunable particle size, with polydispersity index as low as 0.024 [73] and sizes of 3.6 nm up to the micrometer range;
- Excellent control over parameters, and change of parameters in microseconds;
- Sufficient millisecond mixing, followed by as low as 2 ms particle formation;
- Very high reproducibility;
- Large surface/volume ratio;
- Very low sample consumption, (as low as picoliters);
- Potential for the synthesis of complicated particles with shells;
- Enclosed reaction environment;
- Potential for automation.		 - Poor solvent compatibility;
- Sometimes expensive tools.