Overall
- Language
- English
- Conflict of Interest
- In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.
- Publication history
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Received July 6, 2025
Revised August 20, 2025
Accepted August 23, 2025
Available online January 25, 2026
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This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits
unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Most Cited
Surfactant‑Free Stabilization of Oil Droplets Using a Viscoelastic Continuous Phase for Polymeric Microspheres
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-025-00550-w
Abstract
This study presents a surfactant-free microfluidic method for fabricating polymeric microspheres by utilizing the viscoelastic
properties of alginate solutions as the continuous phase. The high-viscosity alginate suppresses droplet coalescence
and maintains droplet integrity during flow, enabling stable single emulsions without the use of surfactants. Oil droplets
containing photocurable monomers are partially polymerized in situ under UV irradiation and subsequently cured through
post-polymerization to form structurally stable microspheres. Flow regime analysis reveals that droplet formation behavior
is controllable by adjusting the flow rates of the dispersed and continuous phases, leading to the production of monodisperse
particles with a coefficient of variation (C.V.) of 1.3%. The method is compatible with various monomers, including
ethoxylated trimethylolpropane triacrylate (ETPTA), poly(propylene glycol) diacrylate (PPGDA), trimethylolpropane triacrylate
(TMPTA), and poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA), which forms hydrogel particles after curing. These results
demonstrate that viscoelastic stabilization can effectively replace conventional surfactant-based emulsification, offering a
biocompatible and broadly applicable platform for precision microsphere fabrication.
