Fig. 3: Microfluidic synthesis strategies for ZIF-8 and metal-encapsulated MOFs.

a Comparative analysis of ZIF-8 synthesized via hydrothermal and microfluidic methods at room temperature, highlighting differences in particle size distribution as determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The blue and red curves represent hydrothermal and microfluidic products, respectively, with the microfluidic synthesis yielding a narrower size distribution and enhanced uniformity at a total precursor flow rate of 200 μL min⁻¹. b Characterization of Au@ZIF-8 synthesized via the droplet-based microfluidic de novo approach. a XRD patterns confirm successful gold encapsulation without altering the ZIF-8 crystal structure. b–d SEM-EDX elemental mapping reveals homogeneous dispersion of gold nanoparticles within the ZIF-8 matrix. e TEM imaging shows the morphology and size distribution of embedded gold nanoparticles, demonstrating the efficacy of the microfluidic de novo strategy for high metal content MOF synthesis. Reproduced from ref. ⁷⁹. Copyright 2023, Royal Society of Chemistry.