TY - JOUR
T1 - Microfluidic Tracking of the Growth of Polymeric Vesicles in Hydrodynamic Flow
AU - Nguyen, Xuan Don
AU - Park, Dong Hyeok
AU - Paik, Hyun Jong
AU - Jeon, Hyeong Jin
AU - Huh, June
AU - Go, Jeung Sang
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea Government (MSIP) (Nos. 2017R1A2B2006264 and 2018M3D1A1058536).
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) and the Korean Government (MSIP) for supporting funds for this paper. J.H. thanks Creative Materials Discovery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2018M3D1A1058536).
PY - 2020/12/11
Y1 - 2020/12/11
N2 - Polymeric vesicles (PVs) have proven to be a promising container for various agents because of the benefit of core-shell structures. The formation mechanism of PVs has been investigated in the hydrostatic media numerically and experimentally. However, it has been hardly reported in the hydrodynamic media of the microfluidic channel. This paper provides the visual evidence of the hydrodynamic formation mechanism of polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene glycol) vesicles. The PVs were prepared in a multiple lamination flow formed with a double flow-focusing microchannel (DFFM). To visualize the formation mechanism, the PV synthesis at each stage was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) taken along the microchannel length. Time-evolution of PV structure reveals that the formation of the PVs undergoes three distinctive morphological intermediates (micelles, disklike micelles, and semivesicles) before eventually reaching PVs, which can be tracked not only along the flow direction but also in its transverse direction. This mechanistic study for PV formation via microfluidic self-assembly provides an essential guideline for fabricating PVs with programmable morphologies that can be used in a variety of applications.
AB - Polymeric vesicles (PVs) have proven to be a promising container for various agents because of the benefit of core-shell structures. The formation mechanism of PVs has been investigated in the hydrostatic media numerically and experimentally. However, it has been hardly reported in the hydrodynamic media of the microfluidic channel. This paper provides the visual evidence of the hydrodynamic formation mechanism of polystyrene-block-poly(ethylene glycol) vesicles. The PVs were prepared in a multiple lamination flow formed with a double flow-focusing microchannel (DFFM). To visualize the formation mechanism, the PV synthesis at each stage was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) taken along the microchannel length. Time-evolution of PV structure reveals that the formation of the PVs undergoes three distinctive morphological intermediates (micelles, disklike micelles, and semivesicles) before eventually reaching PVs, which can be tracked not only along the flow direction but also in its transverse direction. This mechanistic study for PV formation via microfluidic self-assembly provides an essential guideline for fabricating PVs with programmable morphologies that can be used in a variety of applications.
KW - double flow-focusing microchannel
KW - microfluidic formation
KW - multiple lamination flow
KW - polymeric vesicles
KW - shock freezing
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U2 - 10.1021/acsapm.0c01089
DO - 10.1021/acsapm.0c01089
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097950301
VL - 2
SP - 5845
EP - 5850
JO - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
JF - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
SN - 2637-6105
IS - 12
ER -