Controlling the organisation of matter using thin film microfluidics
Professor Colin L. Raston SA Premier’s Professorial Research Fellow in Clean Technology, ARC Australian Professorial Fellow
School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042.
[email protected]
We have developed the use of microfluidic platforms based on dynamic thin films in
chemical and materials synthesis. Initially we focused on the application of a spinning disc
processor (SDP), followed by a rotating tube processor (RTP), where the residence time of
the processing can be controlled to up to a minute, overcoming the limited processing time
for SDP, which is typically < 1 sec for a 10 cm disc operating at 2500 rpm. The dynamic thin
films in these platforms allow exquisite control over the size, shape, agglomerations, phases,
and indeed defects of nano-particles, as well as the ability to coat preformed nano-particles in
a controlled way.1 They also have application in the top down fabrication of graphene and hBN scrolls,2 controlling chemical reactivity and selectivity, and controlling the disassembly
of self organised systems, under continuous flow conditions.3 This control relates to the
intense shear of the thin films arising from the viscous drag as the liquid accelerates on the
disc of an SDP, or whirls down the tube of the RTP.
Recently we developed a vortex fluidic device (VFD),4 as a versatile continuous flow
processor, where the residence time can be controlled, with the ability to scale down to submillilitre volumes with an optional sequential ‘confined mode’, and the ability to scale up to
large volumes. VFD is also inexpensive relative to SDP and RTP, and we have used the
platform for controlling the growth of metal nano-particles, including on graphene,5 wrapping
single cell algae with graphene,6 and more.
1. Nanorings of self-assembled fullerene C70 as templating nanoreactors, K. S. Iyer, M. Saunders, T. Becker, C.
Evans and C. L. Raston, J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2009, 131, 16338.
2. Shear induced formation of carbon and boron nitride nano-scrolls, Xianjue Chen, Ramiz A. Boulos, John F.
Dobson and Colin L. Raston, Nanoscale, 2013, 5, 498–502.
3. Loading molecular hydrogen cargo within virus like containers, K. S. Iyer, M. Norret, S. J. Dalgarno, J. L.
Atwood, and C. L. Raston., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2008, 47, 6362.
4. Optimising a vortex fluidic device for controlling chemical reactivity and selectivity, L. Yasmin, X. Chen,
K. A. Stubbs and C. L. Raston, Scientific Reports, 2013, 3, 2282.
5. Vortex fluidic exfoliation of graphite and boron nitride, X. Chen, J. F. Dobson and C. L. Raston, Chem.
Commun., 2012, 48, 3703
6. Functional multi-layer graphene–algae hybrid material formed using vortex fluidics, M. H. Wahid, E.
Eroglu, X. Chen, S. M. Smith and C. L. Raston, Green Chem., 2013, 15, 650
Biography:
Prof Colin Raston is a SA Premier’s Professorial Research Fellow in Clean Technology and
an ARC APF at Flinders University He has previously held Chairs of Chemistry at Griffith
University, Monash University, The University of Leeds, and The University of Western
Australia. He is a former President, Queensland Branch President, and Chair of the Inorganic
Division, the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI). He has received the RACI’s Green
Chemistry Challenge Award, the H.G. Smith Award, the Burrows Award, and the Leighton
Memorial Award, and is a former recipient of an ARC Special Investigator Award and ARC
Senior Research Fellowships. His current research covers clean technology and green
chemistry, process intensification, nanotechnology and self-assembly, and is currently on the
editorial advisory editorial boards of the journals Green Chemistry and RSC Advances, and
on the editorial board of Crystal Growth and Design.