An integrative method to increase the reliability of conventional double emulsion method

Abstract

Polymeric microspheres which can load biomolecules, cells and active agents play an important role in tissue engineering and drug delivery systems. The conventional double emulsion method has been frequently used to fabricate polymeric microspheres. However, this method has two major shortcomings: the complicated fabrication process which makes it difficult to predict the characteristics of the final microspheres while the size distribution of the microspheres has a wide range. In this study, we eliminate the shortcomings of the conventional double emulsion method and increase its performance without decreasing its high production rate. This can make the proposed modified method a promising approach suitable for mass production of microspheres. To this end, the effect of different fabrication parameters on the size and surface morphology of the microspheres have been investigated. This information provides researchers with helpful insights to fabricate the desired microspheres with specific size distribution and surface morphology. Moreover, by incorporating the conventional double emulsion method with a high throughput inertial microfluidics device, microspheres with a narrow size distribution have been obtained.