A Flow Focusing Microfluidic Device for Prepolymer Droplet Generation and In-Situ UV Polymerization: Steps Towards Fabricating Imprinted Polymer Microparticles

This study presents a preliminary micro fluidic approach for towards fabricating ion-imprinted polymer (IIP) microparticles, using flow- focusing droplet generation followed by in-situ UV polymerization. Prepolymer droplets with diameters ranging from 125 to <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$200 \mu \mathrm{m}$</tex> were generated with high monodispersity, achieving a coefficient of variation (CV) below 10%. The effects of continuous phase (C-phase) to dispersed phase (D-phase) flowrate ratio, along with variations in crosslinker and photo initiator concentrations in the prepolymer formulation, were systematically investigated. Results showed that droplet and particle sizes were primarily influenced by flowrate ratio and photo initiator concentration, while crosslinker content had a more pronounced effect on droplet formation. This work provides valuable insights into the controlled synthesis of IIP particles via micro fluidics in the future.