A novel spiral infinity reactor for continuous hydrothermal synthesis of nanoparticles.

Hydrothermal synthesis is an attractive route to make nanoparticles utilizing inexpensive precursors under moderate process conditions. Though it provides flexibility and robustness in controlling particle characteristics, process scale-up for continuous production is a major challenge. A novel 'infinity-' shaped spiral continuous flow reactor is proposed here, to exploit the large density difference between the precursor solution and supercritical water to provide rapid mixing, leading to uniform conditions for reaction kinetics and particle growth.