Chemically Robust, Rapidly Printed Polyurethane Microreactor for Synthesis of Monodispersed Magnetic Iron Oxide Nanoparticles

This paper introduces a novel fabless, polyurethane microfluidic reactor (PMR) for the production of magnetic nanoparticles using droplet-based flow. The PMR system is the most chemically robust polymer platform to date for nanoparticle synthesis; unlike other polymeric microfluidic platforms such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), it does not absorb aqueous solvents, alcohols or organic materials [1]. This provides the unique capability to rapidly design and fabricate the reactor for various chemistries at low cost. We have synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles as a test case due to their broad applications in biological labeling.