Production of monodisperse polyurea microcapsules using microfluidics.

Thorne, Michael F ORCID: 0000-0002-3188-2478, Simkovic, Felix ORCID: 0000-0003-3430-6828 and Slater, Anna G (2019) Production of monodisperse polyurea microcapsules using microfluidics. Scientific reports, 9 (1). 17983 - ?.

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Abstract

Methods to make microcapsules - used in a broad range of healthcare and energy applications - currently suffer from poor size control, limiting the establishment of size/property relationships. Here, we use microfluidics to produce monodisperse polyurea microcapsules (PUMC) with a limonene core. Using varied flow rates and a commercial glass chip, we produce capsules with mean diameters of 27, 30, 32, 34, and 35 µm, achieving narrow capsule size distributions of ±2 µm for each size. We describe an automated method of sizing droplets as they are produced using video recording and custom Python code. The sustainable generation of such size-controlled PUMCs, potential replacements for commercial encapsulated systems, will allow new insights into the effect of particle size on performance.

Item Type:	Article
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	22 Nov 2019 08:43
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 00:19
DOI:	10.1038/s41598-019-54512-4
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3062950

Available Versions of this Item

• Production of monodisperse polyurea microcapsules using microfluidics. (deposited 22 Nov 2019 08:43) [Currently Displayed]
  • Production of monodisperse polyurea microcapsules using microfluidics. (deposited 12 Dec 2019 09:35)