Microfluidic Technologies to Fabricate Nano- and Microparticles

Introduction

Microfluidic technologies also allow the creation of nano- and microparticles, possibly with greater control and precision.

NanoAssemblr

Figure 1. The NanoAssemblr allows the control of various parts of the micro- and nanoparticle creation process, including the ratio of the solvents, the rate at which they flow and the volume of praticles created. All of this is done automatically, allowing for more precision. Image and product available from https://www.precisionnanosystems.com/.

 

 

 

 

Microfluidic Flow Focusing System

Figure 2. Here, droplet formation in a microfluidic flow focusing system is shown. In this system, polymers dissolved in water immiscible organic solvent. Then a polymer solution and an aqueous solution contains surfactant pass through an orifice coaxially and droplets are formed downstream of the orifice due to the hydrodynamic instability generated in the system. In this system, size of the particles can be controlled precisely and polymer microspheres with narrow size distribution can be produced.