Microfluidic fabrication of fluorescent nanomaterials: A review

•Microfluidics provide a continuous and controllable way for nanomaterials synthesis.•Comparison between traditional routes and microfluidics for nanofabrication are presented.•Existing microfluidic configurations for fluorescent nanomaterials synthesis are summarized.•Typical fluorescent nanomaterials fabricated by microfluidics are reviewed. Fluorescent nanomaterials of excellent optical properties have been widely used in fields ranging from bio-imaging, ions detection to solid-state lighting, displays and sensing. Recently, microfluidics have been proven to be an effective way to produce functional materials in nanometer scale with controllable morphology and customized properties in a continuous manner, providing an alternative approach for the synthesis of fluorescent nanomaterials. This review focuses on recent progress in the microfluidic fabrication of fluorescent nanomaterials. Firstly, based on the type of the energy coupling, the existing microfluidic configurations for synthesizing nanomaterials are summarized and categorized. Afterwards, typical examples are shown to demonstrate how fluorescent nanomaterials, including semiconductor nanocrystals, carbon dots, metal nanoparticles, rare earth doped nanophosphors, perovskite nanocrystals, and fluorescent oxide composites, are fabricated. Furthermore, the development directions of microfluidic-based nanofabrication in the future are prospected. Hopefully this review can serve as a guidance for both the scientific and industry research communities interested in this field.