title: Intelligent routes to the controlled synthesis of nanoparticles.
abstract: We describe an autonomous 'black-box' system for the controlled synthesis of fluorescent nanoparticles. The system uses a microfluidic reactor to carry out the synthesis and an in-line spectrometer to monitor the emission spectra of the emergent particles. The acquired data is fed into a control algorithm which reduces each spectrum to a scalar 'dissatisfaction coefficient' and then intelligently updates the reaction conditions in an effort to minimise this coefficient and so drive the system towards a desired goal. In the tests reported here, CdSe nanoparticles were prepared by separately injecting solutions of CdO and Se into the two inlets of a heated y-shaped microfluidic reactor. A noise-tolerant global search algorithm was then used to efficiently identify-without any human intervention-the injection rates and temperature that yielded the optimum intensity for a chosen emission wavelength.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, South Kensington, London, UKSW7 2AZ. j.demello@imperial.ac.uk.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Krishnadasan
authors.forename: R J C
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: deMello
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: deMello