Title

In-situ photopolymerization of monodisperse and discoid oxidized methacrylated alginate microgels in a microfluidic channel

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2016

Abstract

We present a simple microfluidic technique to in-situ photopolymerize (by 365 nm ultraviolet) monodisperse oxidized methacrylated alginate (OMA) microgels using a photoinitiator (VA-086). By this technique, we generated monodisperse spherical OMA beads and discoid non-spherical beads with better shape consistency than ionic crosslinking methods do. We found that a high monomer concentration (8 w/v %), a high photoinitiator concentration (1.5 w/v %), and absence of oxygen are critical factors to cure OMA microgels. This photopolymerizing method is an alternative to current methods to form alginate microgels and is a simpler approach to generate non-spherical alginate microgels.

Publisher's Statement

© 2016 AIP Publishing LLC. Publisher's version of record: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4941339

Publication Title

Biomicrofluidics

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