title: Microfluidic-based synthesis of non-spherical magnetic hydrogel microparticles.
abstract: Spherical and non-spherical magnetic hydrogel particles were synthesized in a microfluidic device containing an embedded UV light reflector. Monodisperse magnetic emulsion droplets were generated in a T-junction and allowed to relax into spheres, disks, and plugs in confining microchannel geometries. Particle morphology was locked-in via UV-initiated photopolymerization. The role of the reflector in the microchannel is to provide a uniform distribution of UV energy to the magnetic emulsion droplets and to increase the UV flux, which significantly improves UV polymerization conditions for microfluidic-based particle synthesis. Magnetic nanoparticles were uniformly encapsulated in the hydrogel, giving the microparticles superparamagnetic behavior. Additionally, the non-spherical particles show anisotropic responses under an applied external magnetic field.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Dae Kun
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Dhananjay
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dendukuri
authors.forename: Patrick S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Doyle