Microfluidics systems could facilitate the discovery of synthetic routes as well as help the understanding of possible mechanisms for the reactions or processes. Flow synthesis of particles in microfluidics systems could generate products with more stable quality than batch synthesis. The organic reactions in microfluidics systems could be faster, cleaner and safer. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are attracting increasingly more attention for their appealing properties of gas separation, adsorption, catalysis, and sensing. This work investigates the formation of MOFs materials in microfluidics systems as well as the application of MOFs in microfluidics systems for catalysis.

The ultrafast syntheses of ZIF-8 rhombic dodecahedra particles, CuBDC nanosheets and magnetic ZIF-8 in...[ Read more ]

Microfluidics systems could facilitate the discovery of synthetic routes as well as help the understanding of possible mechanisms for the reactions or processes. Flow synthesis of particles in microfluidics systems could generate products with more stable quality than batch synthesis. The organic reactions in microfluidics systems could be faster, cleaner and safer. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are attracting increasingly more attention for their appealing properties of gas separation, adsorption, catalysis, and sensing. This work investigates the formation of MOFs materials in microfluidics systems as well as the application of MOFs in microfluidics systems for catalysis.

The ultrafast syntheses of ZIF-8 rhombic dodecahedra particles, CuBDC nanosheets and magnetic ZIF-8 in microfluidics systems was studied. The impact of flow rate and flow patterns on the particle size and morphology of the final products was discussed. It was found that the Taylor flow pattern helped the formation of particles of homogeneous size, and generated larger particles and higher yield than laminar flow. The time of magnetic ZIF-8 preparation was shortened to 7.24 min and the adsorption ability is improved because of smaller grain size. The immobilization of ZIF-8 on magnetic particles facilitate the downstream separation. It was found that the Taylor flow is better than laminar flow or batch synthesis because its internal circulation provides advantageous mixing conditions and loads more ZIF-8 particles.

The immobilization of MOFs such as ZIF-8, MIL-88b, HKUST-1 and MIL-101 on porous support like glass fiber membrane and silica monolith was realized. The porous structure of the supports could be regarded as microchannels for organic reactions, while the voids in the porous structure is the conduits for organic reactions. It was found by using these kinds of microreactors, the yields of the Knoevenagel reaction, acetalization and epoxidation could be improved. The selectivity of epoxidation is largely increased by using Taylor flow method in a HKUST-1/silica monolith microreactor. Additionally, the fixed bed MOFs microreactors eliminated solid catalyst separation and saved energy.