title: Manipulating the generation of Ca-alginate microspheres using microfluidic channels as a carrier of gold nanoparticles.
abstract: In this paper the manipulation of Ca-alginate microspheres, using a microfluidic chip, for the encapsulation of gold nanoparticles is presented. Our strategy is based on hydrodynamic-focusing on the forming of a series of self-assembling sphere structures, the so-called water-in-oil (w/o) emulsions, in the cross-junction microchannel. These fine emulsions, consisting of aqueous Na-alginates, are then dripped into a solution of 20% calcium salt to accomplish Ca-alginate microspheres in an efficient manner. Experimental data show that microspheres with diameters ranging from 50 microm to 2000 microm with a variation less than 5% were precisely generated. The size and gap of the droplets are tunable by adjusting the relative sheath/sample flow rate ratio. Furthermore, we applied them to encapsulated gold nanoparticles, and this one shot operation performs the 'Lab on a Chip'.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, 1 University Road, 701 Tainan, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Keng-Shiang
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Tzung-Heng
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Yu-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D004339:Drug Compounding; D004655:Emulsions; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry*; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D053768:Metal Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008863:Microspheres
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D004655:Emulsions; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D006046:Gold; D020723:Glucuronic Acid