Coupling Microreaction Technologies, Polymer Chemistry, and Processing to Produce Polymeric Micro and Nanoparticles with Controlled Size, Morphology, and Composition

Abstract

Polymeric micro‐ and nanoparticles receive the attention of researchers in different areas such as drug delivery, sensing, imaging, cosmetics, diagnostics, and biotechnology. However, processes with conventional equipment do not always allow precise control of their morphology, size, size distribution, and composition. On the other hand, microreaction technology offers improved control over the hydrodynamics, mass and heat transfer, allowing production of polymeric particles with better defined or new characteristics. Thus new horizons in polymer particle engineering arise from the use of microstructured or microfluidic devices. This article gives an insight into the latest developments and trends in the production of polymeric micro‐ and nanoparticles realized by microreaction technology directly.

Applications of Continuous-Flow Photochemistry in Organic Synthesis, Material Science, and Water Treatment

“…chromatography, encapsulation of drugs, resins, optical data storage, etc. Microreactor technology has made great contributions in the fabrication of such monodispersed polymer particles, as this technique provides a great control over particle size, shape and composition. − However, it must be noted that essentially all examples on the light-assisted continuous-flow synthesis of particles use UV-light exclusively for the final curing or solidification of the particles, with their actual preparation based mainly on microemulsification. , …”

Stationary, Continuous, and Sequential Surface‐Enhanced Raman Scattering Sensing Based on the Nanoscale and Microscale Polymer‐Metal Composite Sensor Particles through Microfluidics: A Review

“…In this regard, the microfluidic‐mediated arrangement is very promising to meet the requirements because of its advantages not only for performing the precise experiment under a highly uniform reaction environment but also simultaneously integrating accurate characterization/detection. [ 97–102 ] In general, microfluidics is an advanced reaction strategy that deals with a very low amount of liquid in a tiny microchannel of micrometer length scales of various microreactor devices. [ 103 ] With regards to integrating SERS with microfluidics, the SERS‐active substrates can be fixed to the microfluidic chip or channel during their fabrication for continuous and repeated detection of analytes.…”

Process conditions for preparing well-defined nano- and microparticles as delivery systems of alkyl gallates

“…6). Fluid dynamics at the flow-focusing region governed droplet break up, where droplets of the dispersed phase were produced as a result of the laminar shear stress and interfacial tension at the fluid-fluid interface (Bauer, Fischlechner, Abell, & Huck, 2010;Chen, Erb, & Studart, 2012;Keohane, Brennan, Galvin, & Griffin, 2014;Khan, Serra, Anton, & Vandamme, 2013;Kim et al, 2014, Martin-Banderas et al, 2005McDonald, 2000;Peltonen & Hirvonen, 2008;Pessi, Santos, Miroshnyk, Yliruusi, & Mirza, 2014;Seemann, Brinkmann, Pfohl, & Herminghaus, 2012;Serra et al, 2013).…”