The presentation will highlight the fundamentals and applications of the vortex fluidic device (VFD)[1-3] which imparts mechanical energy in a thin film of liquid in an inclined rapidly rotating tube, Figure 1. The applications of the device are diverse, and we focus on developing processes high in green chemistry metrics. Applications include the ability to slice single, double and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, prepare carbon dots from multi-walled carbon nano-tubes, fold proteins, accelerate enzymatic reactions, control chemical reactivity and selectivity, and self-assembly, purify proteins, exfoliate 2D materials with and without the formation of scrolls, biomarker detection, immiscible phase mixing and de-mixing at the nano-meter level, and green cosmetic formulations.
High shear topological fluid flows down to submicron dimensions are present in the VFD and they can be controlled by varying the operating parameters[1,2]. The fluid flows are the typhoon like spinning top (ST) as a Coriolis force from the curved base of the tube, double helical (DH) flow from Faraday wave eddies twisted by the curved walls of the tube. They have been established for both homogenous solutions, and mixtures of immiscible liquids. The VFD is designed for incorporating field effects including light sources and lasers, plasmas, and electromagnetic fields. Indeed, the Earth’s magnetic field impacts on the fluid flow in the device, with the ability to twist toroids of SWCNTs into figure of 8’s (lemniscates), with selectivity in generating the S- or R-optical isomers, but this dramatically depends on the orientation of the tube relative to the Earth’s magnetic field and geographical location in the northern and souther hemisphers.[3] Photo-contact electrification also occurs is water under UVC radiation (l = 254 nm), as established in the direct reduction of auric acid to gold nanoparticles in the absence of reducing agents[4]. In addition, real time processing is possible, using UV-vis, fluorescence, Raman spectroscopy, thermal imaging, SANS, as well as studying the fluid behaviour using neutron imaging.