Stirred tank reactors give you closed-loop control over temperature, pressure, and mixing during liquid-phase synthesis — the three variables that decide whether your particles come out the size, phase, and morphology you targeted. This collection covers benchtop autoclaves and mini batch reactors used to develop and scale precursors for cathodes, single-atom catalysts, MOFs, zeolites, conductive polymers, and electrolyte additives.
What sets a stirred tank apart from a sealed Teflon-lined bomb is the active agitation. A magnetic-coupled or mechanically driven shaft keeps the slurry homogeneous, breaks gas-liquid mass-transfer limits, and prevents the wall scaling that plagues unstirred solvothermal vessels above a few tens of milliliters. For battery and catalyst groups moving from gram-scale screening into reproducible 100 mL to 1 L batches, this is the workhorse format.
Common configurations in this section:
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Mechanical shaft stirring — direct-driven impellers for viscous slurries, high-solids precursor synthesis, and runs where torque feedback matters. Best when you need to keep dense oxide or hydroxide particles suspended.
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Magnetic-coupled stirring — sealed drives with no rotating shaft seal, suited to corrosive solvents, high-purity work, and pressures where shaft leakage is unacceptable.
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High-pressure / high-temperature vessels — typically forged 316 stainless or Hastelloy bodies with PTFE or alloy liners, rated for hydrothermal and solvothermal regimes well above the solvent boiling point.
Typical electrochemistry uses include co-precipitation and hydroxide ageing for NCM, NCA, and Ni-rich layered cathode precursors; hydrothermal growth of olivine LFP and LMFP; spinel LMO and LNMO crystallization; solvothermal synthesis of MOF-derived catalyst supports; ionothermal routes for zeolites and conductive polymers; and controlled aqueous synthesis of single-atom catalyst precursors for fuel cells and electrolyzers.
When choosing a unit, the practical decision points are working volume versus dead volume, the maximum continuous temperature and pressure rating, the wetted-material compatibility with your solvent system (acidic chloride routes punish stainless; fluorinated media often need Hastelloy or PTFE liners), and whether you need sampling, gas-dosing, or in-situ pH/ORP ports.
If you are synthesizing layered or olivine cathode precursors in batch, start with a mechanically stirred mini reactor sized to your typical precursor mass; for clean solvothermal MOF or zeolite work, a magnetically coupled high-pressure vessel is usually the better fit. For unstirred sealed digestion, see Solvothermal Reactors; for gas-handling synthesis lines, see Synthesis Equipment.
