ARI Microreactor

Scientists at the Agharkar Research Institute have developed a microreactor for synthesis of large quantities of uniformly sized nanoparticles for biomedical application.

Microreactor

Microreactor is a device with dimensions that are below 1mm and used for carrying out chemical reactions under confined conditions. It enables improvement in terms of energy efficiency, reaction yield, speed, reliability, scalability, safety and also better control. Eg: microchannels.

About ARI’s Microreactor

The microreactor developed by ARI could synthesis nanoparticles made of metals, semi-conductors and polymers. It is a continuous flow active microreactor that produces uniformly sized nanoparticles (referred to as mono-dispersity) in large quantities for biomedical application. This is significant as conventional methods use multiple reagents, a lot of time and produce toxic by-products to synthesize mono-disperse nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles Synthesized

The microreactor was able to synthesize gold and silver nanoparticles. Mono-disperse silver nanoparticles are effective anti-microbial agents. It produced chitosan and alginate nanoparticles which are noted for their bio-compatibility, sustained release rate and high drug entrapment. Cadmium telluride (finds use in bioimaging) and hyaluronic acid nanoparticles were also produced.