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Updated: Oct 1, 2025
Microbubble Fabrication of Concave-porosity PDMS Beads
Published on: December 15, 2015
An approach for the scalable production of macroporous polymer beads
Juan Ferrer1, Qixiang Jiang2, Angelika Menner2
1Polymer & Composite Engineering (PaCE) Group, Institute of Materials Chemistry & Research, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Vienna, Währinger Straße 42, A-1090 Vienna, Austria; Microinstrumentation Lab, Engineering Science, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby V5A1S6, Canada.
Abstract:
A tubular co-flow reactor to produce macroporous polymer beads by polymerization of medium and high internal phase emulsion (M/HIPE) templates was developed. This reactor allows for improved production rates compared to tubing based microfluidic devices. Water-in-oil (W/O) M/HIPEs, containing methyl methacrylate (MMA) and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) monomers in the continuous phase, were injected into a re-circulating carrier phase. The continuous phase of the emulsion droplets was UV polymerized in situ, resulting in polyM/HIPE beads. The emulsion composition was adjusted to produce poly(MMA-co-EGDMA) porous polymer beads with a protective crust and an interconnected internal pore structure. HCl loaded beads were produced by adding the active ingredient into the dispersed emulsion phase, leading to HCl encapsulation in the porous structure of the beads after polymerization. Even after exposure to ambient conditions for 24 h, 60% of the HCl remained in the beads, indicating good encapsulation efficiencies. Thus, it is possible to use such macroporous beads as delivery vehicles.
