Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 24, 2026

Aqueous Droplets Used as Enzymatic Microreactors and Their Electromagnetic Actuation
Published on: August 28, 2017
Continuous-Flow Microreactors for Polymer Synthesis: Engineering Principles and Applications
Yuanhai Su1,2, Yang Song3, Liang Xiang3
1Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China. y.su@sjtu.edu.cn.
Abstract:
Polymerization is widely involved in the fabrication of high-performance materials. With its advantages, microreactors are typically applied to reaction processes which are limited by transport properties of conventional batch reactors. As demonstrated in this review, numerous polymerization processes are suitable to be conducted in microreactors with showing excellent polymerization performance (e.g., precisely controllable molecular weights and structures of polymer products). However, distinctive differences between polymerization processes and small-molecular reaction systems can be easily expected since fluid physical properties vary significantly during the polymerization. Herein, we firstly clearly describe the engineering principles such as mass transport phenomena and energy dissipation related to polymerization processes in microreactors, and then give a great deal of application examples (classified as homogeneous polymerization, heterogeneous polymerization, and photopolymerization) through which readers indeed can further understand these relevant principles. Finally, the remaining challenges associated with the application of microreactor technology for polymerization processes and remarking conclusions are presented.
Related Concept Videos
Bernoulli's Principle: Applications
Entrainment devices use a high fluid speed to create low pressures and, thus, entrain one fluid into another. Some examples of these devices are given below:
Design Example: Application of Archimedes' Principle
The volume of seawater displaced by the block is determined by first calculating the block's weight. This is done by multiplying the...
Polymers
Dehydration Synthesis
Dehydration synthesis (also called a condensation reaction) is the chemical process in which two molecules covalently link together to form a new molecule, along with the release of a water molecule. Many physiologically important compounds form by dehydration synthesis reactions, such as complex carbohydrates, proteins, DNA, and RNA.
Synthesis of carbohydrates
Sugar molecules are covalently linked together by dehydration synthesis. During the reaction, the hydroxyl (-OH) group from...
Hardy-Weinberg Principle
The Uncertainty Principle

