Preparation of monodisperse calcium alginate microcapsules via internal gelation in microfluidic-generated double emulsions

Abstract

Monodisperse hollow and core–shell calcium alginate microcapsules are successfully prepared via internal gelation in microfluidic-generated double emulsions. Microfluidic emulsification is introduced to generate monodisperse oil-in-water-in-oil (O/W/O) double emulsion templates, which contain Na-alginate, CaCO3 nanoparticles, and photoacid generator in the middle aqueous phase, for synthesizing Ca-alginate microcapsules. The internal gelation of the aqueous middle layer of O/W/O double emulsions is induced by crosslinking alginate polymers with Ca2+ ions that are released from CaCO3 nanoparticles upon UV exposure of the photoacid generator. The as-prepared hollow and core–shell calcium alginate microcapsules are highly monodisperse and spherical in water. Model proteins Bovine serum albumin (BSA) molecules can be encapsulated into the Ca-alginate microcapsules after the capsule preparation, which demonstrates an alternative route for loading active drugs or chemicals into carriers to avoid the inactivation during the carrier preparation. The proposed technique in this study provides an efficient approach for synthesis of monodisperse hollow or core–shell calcium alginate microcapsules with large cavity or encapsulated lipophilic drugs, chemicals, and nutrients.