This study reports the development of a continuous flow process enabling the synthesis of very small iron oxide nanoparticles (VSION) intended for T₁-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The influence of parameters, such as the concentration/nature of surfactants, temperature, pressure and the residence time on the thermal decomposition of iron(III) acetylacetonate in organic media was evaluated. As observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the diameter of the resulting nanoparticle remains constant when modifying the residence time. However, significant differences were observed in the magnetic and relaxometric studies. This continuous flow experimental setup allowed the production of VSION with high flow rates (up to 2 mL·min⁻¹), demonstrating the efficacy of such process compared to conventional batch procedure for the scale-up production of VSION.

In this paper, we overview the recent progress we made in the magnetron sputtering-based developments of nano-sculpted thin films intended for energy-related applications such as energy conversion. This paper summarizes our recent experimental work often supported by simulation and theoretical results. Specifically, the development of a new generation of nano-sculpted photo-anodes based on TiO₂ for application in dye-sensitized solar cells is discussed.