Generation of alginate nanoparticles through microfluidics-aided polyelectrolyte complexation

Abstract

Alginate-based nanoparticles were generated by mixing two types of stock solutions through a microfluidic device. In our microfluidic mixing device, aqueous Ca-alginate pre-gels and cationic poly-l-lysine (PLL) solutions were mixed, and the polyelectrolyte complexation that subsequently occurred between the pre-gel and PLL resulted in precipitates, yielding alginate nanoparticles. Due to the faster microfluidic mixing achieved compared with that obtained with the conventional bulk mixing method, the alginate nanoparticles exhibited enhanced aggregation stability. The control of the size of the nanoparticles through the tuning of the flow rates in the microfluidic device was also achieved.