Structure controlling and process scale-up in the fabrication of nanomaterials

Nanotechnology is already having a significant commercial impact, and will very certainly have a much greater impact in the future. The research on process engineering and scale-up will be very important for the commercial production and application of nanomaterials, because the properties and structure of nanomaterials are not only determined by the nucleation and growth process, but also strongly affected by the engineering properties, such as the mixing, the heat and mass transfer, and also the distribution of temperature, concentration, etc. This paper will present some research work in our laboratory on the fabrication of nanomaterials. Based on the chemical engineering principle and methods, many kinds of novel nanomaterials can be synthesized and their structure can be easily controlled through adjusting the parameters of the fluid mixing, and the distribution of temperature, residence time and concentration, etc. By using the micro-mixing, heat and mass transfer and reaction control methods, the host-guest nanocomposites have been assembled and assumed as the novel electroanalytical sensing nanobiocomposite materials. Based on the principles of chemical engineering, the manufacturing technologies for magnetic powders, calcium carbonate, and titanium dioxide have been developed for commercial-scale production, and the largest production scale has reached 15 kt/year.