Microfluidic Laser-Induced Nucleation of Iron (II,III) Oxide Nanoparticle-Doped Supersaturated Aqueous KCl Solutions

A capillary-based microfluidic system designed for nonphotochemical laser-induced nucleation (NPLIN) studies coupled with real-time microscopy was used to study NPLIN of iron (II,III) oxide doped aqueous KCl solutions. Supersaturation was achieved by lowering the solution temperature using thermoelectric cooling, and heating was used for the dissolution of crystals downstream to prevent clogging during the flow. The effect of nanoparticle concentration, supersaturation, laser intensity, and filtration was studied. We report laser-induced nucleation using laser intensities as low as 1 MW/cm