Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.7
3.4
Journals
Micromachines
Special Issues
Microreactors and Their Applications
share announcement

Microreactors and Their Applications

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "C：Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 5351

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Liangliang Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Chemical and Material Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi 214126, China
Interests: plasma technology; microreactor; process intensification; microplasma; plasma-nanofabrication
Prof. Dr. Wei He

E-Mail
Guest Editor
College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: polyurethane; biopolyol; green manufacturing; vegetable oil
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As an efficient process intensification strategy, microreactor technology offers many advantages compared to conventional batch reactors, such as enhanced mass and heat transfer rate, continuous operation, intrinsically safe, reduced reagents and solvent consumption, better process control, etc. These characteristics help to open up new opportunities for reactions and processes. Over the past decade, numerous efforts have been devoted to the design and exploration of this innovative technique. Remarkable progress has also been achieved in their applications, such as mixing, separation, chemicals synthesis, nanofabrication, emulsification, detection, clinical diagnostic devices, etc. Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, communications, review articles, and mini-reviews that focus on (1) novel designs, fabrication, integration, and scale-up strategies of microreactors, microdevices, or micromachines; (2) the application of microreactors as well as relevant reaction kinetics and mechanisms, including but not limited to chemicals synthesis, nanofabrication, particle formation, emulsification, detection, separation, etc.; and (3) experimental or numerical study of transport phenomena in microreactors.

Dr. Liangliang Lin
Prof. Dr. Wei He
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microreactor
  • microfluidics
  • micromachines
  • process intensification

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

14 pages, 6071 KiB  
Article
Degradation of Stains from Metal Surfaces Using a DBD Plasma Microreactor
by Fajun Wang, Zhikun Miao, Chengdong Li and Liangliang Lin
Micromachines 2024, 15(3), 297; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15030297 - 21 Feb 2024
Viewed by 655
Abstract
The surface cleaning of metals plays a pivotal role in ensuring their overall performance and functionality. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, due to its unique properties, has been considered to be a good alternative to traditional cleaning methods. The confinement of DBD plasma [...] Read more.
The surface cleaning of metals plays a pivotal role in ensuring their overall performance and functionality. Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma, due to its unique properties, has been considered to be a good alternative to traditional cleaning methods. The confinement of DBD plasma in microreactors brings additional benefits, including excellent stability at high pressures, enhanced density of reactive species, reduced safety risks, and less gas and energy consumption. In the present work, we demonstrated a DBD plasma-based method for the degradation of stains from metal surfaces in a microreactor. Aluminum plates with capsanthin stains were used to investigate the influence of operational parameters on the decolorization efficiency, including plasma discharge power, plasma processing time, and O2 content in the atmosphere. The results revealed that an increase in plasma discharge power and plasma processing time together with an appropriate amount of O2 in the atmosphere promote the degradation of capsanthin stains. The optimum processing condition was determined to be the following: plasma power of 11.3 W, processing time of 3 min, and Ar/O2 flow rate of 48/2 sccm. The evolution of composition, morphology, bonding configuration, and wettability of aluminum plates with capsanthin and lycopene stains before and after plasma treatment were systematically investigated, indicating DBD plasma can efficiently degrade stains from the surface of metals without damage. On this basis, the DBD plasma cleaning approach was extended to degrade rhodamine B and malachite green stains from different metals, suggesting it has good versatility. Our work provides a simple, efficient, and solvent-free approach for the surface cleaning of metals. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microreactors and Their Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2958 KiB  
Article
Biocatalytic Performance of β-Glucosidase Immobilized on 3D-Printed Single- and Multi-Channel Polylactic Acid Microreactors
by Andreas-Georgios Vasios, Anastasia Skonta, Michaela Patila and Haralambos Stamatis
Micromachines 2024, 15(2), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15020288 - 18 Feb 2024
Viewed by 893
Abstract
Microfluidic devices have attracted much attention in the current day owing to the unique advantages they provide. However, their application for industrial use is limited due to manufacturing limitations and high cost. Moreover, the scaling-up process of the microreactor has proven to be [...] Read more.
Microfluidic devices have attracted much attention in the current day owing to the unique advantages they provide. However, their application for industrial use is limited due to manufacturing limitations and high cost. Moreover, the scaling-up process of the microreactor has proven to be difficult. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is a promising solution for the above obstacles due to its ability to fabricate complex structures quickly and at a relatively low cost. Hence, combining the advantages of the microscale with 3D printing technology could enhance the applicability of microfluidic devices in the industrial sector. In the present work, a 3D-printed single-channel immobilized enzyme microreactor with a volume capacity of 30 μL was designed and created in one step via the fused deposition modeling (FDM) printing technique, using polylactic acid (PLA) as the printing material. The microreactor underwent surface modification with chitosan, and β-glucosidase from Thermotoga maritima was covalently immobilized. The immobilized biocatalyst retained almost 100% of its initial activity after incubation at different temperatures, while it could be effectively reused for up to 10 successful reaction cycles. Moreover, a multi-channel parallel microreactor incorporating 36 channels was developed, resulting in a significant increase in enzymatic productivity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microreactors and Their Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2333 KiB  
Article
The Effect of Random Roughness on the Electromagnetic Flow in a Micropipe
by Zhili Wang, Yanjun Sun and Yongjun Jian
Micromachines 2023, 14(11), 2054; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14112054 - 02 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 683
Abstract
The features of stationary random processes and the small parameter expansion approach are used in this work to examine the impact of random roughness on the electromagnetic flow in cylindrical micropipes. Utilizing the perturbation method, the analytical solution until second order velocity is [...] Read more.
The features of stationary random processes and the small parameter expansion approach are used in this work to examine the impact of random roughness on the electromagnetic flow in cylindrical micropipes. Utilizing the perturbation method, the analytical solution until second order velocity is achieved. The analytical expression of the roughness function ζ, which is defined as the deviation of the flow rate ratio with roughness to the case having no roughness in a smooth micropipe, is obtained by integrating the spectral density. The roughness function can be taken as the functions of the Hartmann number Ha and the dimensionless wave number λ. Two special corrugated walls of micropipes, i.e., sinusoidal and triangular corrugations, are analyzed in this work. The results reveal that the magnitude of the roughness function rises as the wave number increases for the same Ha. The magnitude of the roughness function decreases as the Ha increases for a prescribed wave number. In the case of sinusoidal corrugation, as the wave number λ increases, the Hartmann number Ha decreases, and the value of ζ increases. We consider the λ ranging from 0 to 15 and the Ha ranging from 0 to 5, with ζ ranging from −2.5 to 27.5. When the λ reaches 15, and the Ha is 0, ζ reaches the maximum value of 27.5. At this point, the impact of the roughness on the flow rate reaches its maximum. Similarly, in the case of triangular corrugation, when the λ reaches 15 and the Ha is 0, ζ reaches the maximum value of 18.7. In addition, the sinusoidal corrugation has a stronger influence on the flow rate under the same values of Ha and λ compared with triangular corrugation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microreactors and Their Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 4196 KiB  
Article
A Low-Cost Microfluidic and Optically Transparent Water Antenna with Frequency-Tuning Characteristics
by Abdullah Abdullah, Syed Imran Hussain Shah, Sakobyly Kiv, Jinwoo Ho and Sungjoon Lim
Micromachines 2023, 14(11), 2052; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14112052 - 01 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1116
Abstract
In this study, a novel microfluidic frequency reconfigurable and optically transparent water antenna is designed using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. The proposed antenna consists of three distinct parts, including a circularly shaped distilled water ground, a sea water-based circular segmented radiator, and a [...] Read more.
In this study, a novel microfluidic frequency reconfigurable and optically transparent water antenna is designed using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology. The proposed antenna consists of three distinct parts, including a circularly shaped distilled water ground, a sea water-based circular segmented radiator, and a circularly shaped distilled water-based load, all ingeniously constructed from transparent resin material. The presented antenna is excited by a disk-loaded probe. The frequency of the antenna can be easily tuned by filling and emptying/evacuating sea water from the multisegmented radiator. The radiator consists of three segments with different radii, and each segment has a different resonant frequency. When the radiator is filled, the antenna resonates at the frequency of the segment that is filled. When all the radiator segments are filled, the antenna operates at the resonant frequency of 2.4 GHz and possesses an impedance bandwidth of 1.05 GHz (40%) in the range of 2.10–3.15 GHz. By filling different radiator segments, the frequency could be tuned from 2.4 to 2.6 GHz. In addition to the frequency-switching characteristics, the proposed antenna exhibits high simulated radiation efficiency (with a peak performance reaching 95%) and attains a maximum realized gain of 3.8 dBi at 2.9 GHz. The proposed antenna integrates water as its predominant constituent, which is easily available, thereby achieving cost-effectiveness, compactness, and transparency characteristics; it also has the potential to be utilized in future applications, involving transparent and flexible electronics. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microreactors and Their Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

24 pages, 6483 KiB  
Review
Biomedical Applications of Deformable Hydrogel Microrobots
by Qinghua Cao, Wenjun Chen, Ying Zhong, Xing Ma and Bo Wang
Micromachines 2023, 14(10), 1824; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14101824 - 24 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1466
Abstract
Hydrogel, a material with outstanding biocompatibility and shape deformation ability, has recently become a hot topic for researchers studying innovative functional materials due to the growth of new biomedicine. Due to their stimulus responsiveness to external environments, hydrogels have progressively evolved into “smart” [...] Read more.
Hydrogel, a material with outstanding biocompatibility and shape deformation ability, has recently become a hot topic for researchers studying innovative functional materials due to the growth of new biomedicine. Due to their stimulus responsiveness to external environments, hydrogels have progressively evolved into “smart” responsive (such as to pH, light, electricity, magnetism, temperature, and humidity) materials in recent years. The physical and chemical properties of hydrogels have been used to construct hydrogel micro-nano robots which have demonstrated significant promise for biomedical applications. The different responsive deformation mechanisms in hydrogels are initially discussed in this study; after which, a number of preparation techniques and a variety of structural designs are introduced. This study also highlights the most recent developments in hydrogel micro-nano robots’ biological applications, such as drug delivery, stem cell treatment, and cargo manipulation. On the basis of the hydrogel micro-nano robots’ current state of development, current difficulties and potential future growth paths are identified. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microreactors and Their Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop