| Info. | Vol.3 - No.1 (2009.03.20) |
|---|---|
| Title | Efficient In situ Production of Monodisperse Polyurethane Microbeads in Microfluidic Device using Increase of Residence Time of Droplets |
| Authors | Jae-Hoon Jung1, Chang-Hyung Choi1, Taek-Sung Hwang1, & Chang-Soo Lee1 |
| Institutions | 1Department of Chemical Engineering, Chungnam National
University, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-764, Korea Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to C.S. Lee (rhadum@cnu.ac.kr) |
| Abstract | This study presents a simple method for the efficient generation of monodisperse polyurethane (PU) microbeads in microfluidic device integrating with downward outlet to increase the residence time of droplets on the UV irradiating area. Based on the mechanism of shear force-driven break-off, monodisperse droplets of acrylated urethane as an oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions are continuously generated in an immiscible continuous phase at the cross-shaped junction.The droplets of oligomeric PU as a dispersed phase are rapidly polymerized at downward outlet channel by in situ UV polymerization. The low coefficient of variance (CV, 1%) indicates that the produced microbeads have narrow size distribution. In addition, the size of microbeads produced can be controlled by important operating parameters such as flow rates of continuous and dispersed phase. Therefore, the proposed in situ microfluidic method provides a novel route for the synthesis of monodisperse microbeads via a one-pot synthetic approach. |
| Keyword | Microfluidics, Microbeads, UV-polymerization, Monodispersity, Droplets |
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