One‐Step Microfluidic Fabrication of Polyelectrolyte Microcapsules in Aqueous Conditions for Protein Release

Zhang, Liyuan; Cai, Li‐Heng; Lienemann, Philipp S.; Rossow, Torsten; Polenz, Ingmar; Vallmajó-Martín, Queralt; Ehrbar, Martin; Na, Hui; Mooney, David J.; Weitz, David A.

doi:10.1002/ange.201606960

Cited by 43 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The hemispherical shells shrank and wrinkled in high vacuum, which was typical of polymeric hollow capsules and vesicles made through other methods. 27 Using a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM), we were able to further characterize hemispherical shells in 3D (Figure 2e and 2f). Because gravity oriented the Janus droplets with denser fluorous phase downward, we proved that the interfacial polymerization only occurred at the hydrocarbon-water interface because only the top hemisphere in Figure 2e emitted green fluorescence.…”

Section: Characterization Of Polymeric Hemispherical Shellmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interfacial Polymerization on Dynamic Complex Colloids: Creating Stabilized Janus Droplets

Savagatrup

Zarzar

et al. 2017

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Complex emulsions, including Janus droplets, are becoming increasingly important in pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostics, the fabrication of microcapsules for drug delivery, chemical sensing, E-paper display technologies, and optics. Because fluid Janus droplets are often sensitive to external perturbation, such as unexpected changes in the concentration of the surfactants or surface-active biomolecules in the environment, stabilizing their morphology is critical for many real-world applications. To endow Janus droplets with resistance to external chemical perturbations, we demonstrate a general and robust method of creating polymeric hemispherical shells via interfacial free-radical polymerization on the Janus droplets. The polymeric hemispherical shells were characterized by optical and fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and confocal laser scanning microscopy. By comparing phase diagrams of a regular Janus droplet and a Janus droplet with the hemispherical shell, we show that the formation of the hemispherical shell nearly doubles the range of the Janus morphology and maintains the Janus morphology upon a certain degree of external perturbation (e.g., adding hydrocarbon-water or fluorocarbon-water surfactants). We attribute the increased stability of the Janus droplets to (1) the surfactant nature of polymeric shell formed and (2) increase in interfacial tension between hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon due to polymer shell formation. This finding opens the door of utilizing these stabilized Janus droplets in a demanding environment.

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Section: Characterization Of Polymeric Hemispherical Shellmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interfacial Polymerization on Dynamic Complex Colloids: Creating Stabilized Janus Droplets

Savagatrup

Zarzar

et al. 2017

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…These results indicated that at low concentrations (5% (w/w)) of both DEX and PEG, it was difficult to generate droplets. However, when the concentrations of two solutions were increased to 10% (w/w), stable droplets were started to form even with lower molecule weight, compared to existing literature . Moreover, monodispersed droplets were easier to be generated when the concentrations of DEX and PEG were increased to more than 10% (w/w).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…The W/W system is formed when concentrations of two components are above a critical value due to the domination of the system's energy of interaction over the Gibb's free energy of mixing . The biocompatibility of W/W emulsions has been previously reported to fabricate polyelectrolyte microcapsules for the delivery of proteins without impairing their biological activities . Unfortunately, these W/W systems possess a very low interfacial tension (less than 10 −4 N m −1 ), which limits the stable and controllable generation of droplets via microfluidic devices.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Microfluidic Strategy for Controllable Generation of Water‐in‐Water Droplets as Biocompatible Microcarriers

Liu

Wang

Wei

et al. 2018

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Droplet microfluidics has been widely applied in functional microparticles fabricating, tissue engineering, and drug screening due to its high throughput and great controllability. However, most of the current droplet microfluidics are dependent on water-in-oil (W/O) systems, which involve organic reagents, thus limiting their broader biological applications. In this work, a new microfluidic strategy is described for controllable and high-throughput generation of monodispersed water-in-water (W/W) droplets. Solutions of polyethylene glycol and dextran are used as continuous and dispersed phases, respectively, without any organic reagents or surfactants. The size of W/W droplets can be precisely adjusted by changing the flow rate of dispersed and continuous phases and the valve switch cycle. In addition, uniform cell-laden microgels are fabricated by introducing the alginate component and rat pancreatic islet (β-TC6) cell suspension to the dispersed phase. The encapsulated islet cells retain high viability and the function of insulin secretion after cultivation for 7 days. The high-throughput droplet microfluidic system with high biocompatibility is stable, controllable, and flexible, which can boost various chemical and biological applications, such as bio-oriented microparticles synthesizing, microcarriers fabricating, tissue engineering, etc.

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“…Polymeric microcapsules as containers/carriers can be used for self-healing coating, [1][2][3] sensors, 4,5 phase change materials, 6 controlled release of drugs and pesticides, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] pressure-sensitive switches, 14 displays or smart windows, 15,16 optical materials, 17 enzyme immobilization, 18 and fragrances 19 . Microcapsules can protect active cargoes against environmental hazards (such as moisture, oxidation and bacteria), and thus increase their shelf life.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Situ Fabrication of Polymeric Microcapsules by Ink-Jet Printing of Emulsions

Deng

Wang

Yang

2019

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Phase separation driven by solvent evaporation of emulsions can be used to create polymeric microcapsules. The combination of emulsion solvent evaporation with ink-jet printing allows the rapid fabrication of polymeric microcapsules at a target location on a surface. The ink is an oil-in-water emulsion containing in the disperse phase a shell-forming polymer, a coreforming fluid that is a poor solvent for the polymer, and a low-boiling good solvent. After the emulsion is printed onto the substrate, the good solvent evaporates by diffusion through the aqueous phase and the polymer and poor solvent phase separate to form microcapsules. The continuous aqueous phase contains polyvinyl alcohol that serves as an emulsifier and as a binder of the capsules to the substrate. This method is demonstrated for microcapsules with various shellforming polymers (PS, PMMA and PLLA) and core-forming poor solvents (hexadecane and a 4heptanone/sunflower oil mixture). Cargoes such as fluorescent dyes (Nile Red and tetracyanoquinodimethane) or active ingredients (e.g. the fungicide tebuconazole) can be encapsulated. Uniform microcapsules are obtained by printing emulsions containing monodisperse 2 oil droplets produced in a microfluidic device. We discuss the physical parameters that need to be controlled for the successful fabrication of microcapsules in inkjet printing. The method for rapid, in-situ encapsulation could be useful for controlled-release applications including agrochemical sprays, fragrances, functional coatings and topical medicines.

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One‐Step Microfluidic Fabrication of Polyelectrolyte Microcapsules in Aqueous Conditions for Protein Release

Cited by 43 publications

References 35 publications

Interfacial Polymerization on Dynamic Complex Colloids: Creating Stabilized Janus Droplets

Interfacial Polymerization on Dynamic Complex Colloids: Creating Stabilized Janus Droplets

A Microfluidic Strategy for Controllable Generation of Water‐in‐Water Droplets as Biocompatible Microcarriers

In Situ Fabrication of Polymeric Microcapsules by Ink-Jet Printing of Emulsions

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