Fabrication of monodisperse, large-sized, functional  biopolymeric microspheres using a low-cost and facile  microfluidic device.
We report a novel and facile method for fabricating coaxial microfluidic devices processing various dimensions at low cost, in which polypropylene hollow fibers or glass capillaries are used as the tip of the dispersed phase injection tube. With this coaxial microfluidic device,monodisperse biocompatible microspheres ranging from 300 to 800 μm were obtained by collecting oil-in-water or water-in-oil emulsions and solidifying the suspended microspheres. Microsphere size could be controlled by changing the tips or tuning the concentrations of the dispersed and continuous phases. By adding functional nanoparticles into the dispersed phase, it was demonstrated that fluorescent and magnetic microspheres can be fabricated easily using these microfluidic devices.
Zhu
Liping
L
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai, China.
Li
Yaogang
Y
Zhang
Qinghong
Q
Wang
Hongzhi
H
Zhu
Meifang
M
D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D002197:Capillary Action; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008422:Materials Testing; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008863:Microspheres; D008904:Miniaturization; D010316:Particle Size; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis*
D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D011108:Polymers