Toward continuous and scalable production of colloidal nanocrystals by switching from batch to droplet reactors

Colloidal nanocrystals are finding widespread use in a wide variety of applications ranging from catalysis to photonics, electronics, energy harvesting/conversion/storage, environment protection, information storage, and biomedicine. Despite the large number of successful demonstrations, there still exists a significant gap between academic studies and industrial applications owing to the lack of an ability to produce colloidal nanocrystals in large quantities without losing control over their properties. Droplet reactors have shown great potential for the continuous and scalable production of colloidal nanocrystals with uniform and well-controlled sizes, shapes, structures, and compositions. In this tutorial review, we begin with rationales for the use of droplet reactors as a new platform to scale up the production of colloidal nanocrystals, followed by discussions of the general concepts and technical challenges in applying droplet reactors to the synthesis of nanocrystals, including droplet formation, introduction and mixing of reagents, management of gaseous species, and interfacial adsorption. At the end, we use a set of examples to highlight the unique capabilities of droplet reactors for the high-volume production of colloidal nanocrystals in the setting of both homogeneous nucleation and seed-mediated growth.