LAUSR

Abstract A systematic comparison between batch and continuous microfluidics systems was conducted for the synthesis of ZnWO4 nanoparticles. A series of ZnWO4 nanoparticles were prepared by different operating modes, initial concentration of reactants and residence time. The features of ZnWO4 nanoparticles including microscopic morphology, particle size distribution and chemical structure were systematically characterized. The results showed that the continuous microfluidics system could obtain ZnWO4 nanoparticles with a more uniform particle size compared with batch system. The size of ZnWO4 are reduced from 92.6 to 65.2 nm by changing the reaction system. Besides, a low concentration of reactants is more suitable for preparing smaller particles ZnWO4 nanoparticles. The average diameters of prepared ZnWO4 nanoparticles was reduced to 50 nm in the condition that the residence time was 20 s and the concentration of reactants was 0.1 mol/L. Afterward, the degradation of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in the wastewaters was used as a probe reaction to evaluate the catalysis performance of prepared ZnWO4 nanoparticles. This work indicates the potential opportunity of versatile continuous microfluidics technique for the fabrication of various multifunctional metal tungstates nanoparticles.