Microfluidic-assisted synthesis of polymer particles

Microfluidic devices have recently emerged as promising tools for the synthesis of polymer particles. Over conventional processes, microfluidic-assisted processes allow the production of polymer particles with an improved control over their sizes, size distributions, rnorphologies, and compositions. In this paper, the most common microfluidic devices are reviewed. Both projection photolithography and emulsification processes are reported for the continuous flow synthesis of polymer particles from a stream of polymerizable liquids. For the latter process, two distinct categories of microfluidic devices have been identified: microchannel-based and capillary-based microsystems. For each category, the existing geometries are described and the different emulsification methods including the co-flowing, cross-flowing, or flow-focusing of the continuous and dispersed phases are commented upon. Finally, for each microsystem the various polymer particles achieved in such devices including, but not restricted to, Janus, core-shell, or porous particles and capsules are reported.