Application of in-channel micro chemical plant to the production of functional microcapsules

Polymeric microcapsules can be fabricated by using kernel process called "micro chemical plant system". The size of microcapsules is more uniform than those made in the conventional pathways. Spherical microcapsules are fabricated through the innovative conjunction of the well-defined amphiphilic block copolymer and stable microfluidic procedure. Crossed microchannel chemical plant are fabricated by using double deep reactive ion etch (DRIE) on 400 μm-thick silicon wafer. The width and depth of this are 100 μm, respectively. PS-b-PMMA copolymer is synthesized by atomic transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and molecular weight and poly dispersity index (PDI) is 9837 g/mol and 1.08, respectively. With the introduction of two immiscible fluids into the microchannel, droplet flows are visualized by using a high speed CCD camera. The microcapsule was formed due to supramolecular self-assembly of copolymer in the droplet. The characteristics of the produced microcapsules were measured by SEM. A new microfilter was also introduced to separate microcapsule from the suspension fluid.