Size Tunable Fabrication of Magnetic Alginate Microparticles Using Flow Focusing Microfluidics

The size tunable formulation of magnetic alginate microparticles (MAMs) using a 3D flow-focusing microfluidic device is reported. The droplet phase consists of iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) in an alginate solution and the continuous phase consists of fluorocarbon oils. The stability of IONP colloids in alginate and calcium ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid solutions using optical microscopy, dynamic light scattering, and zeta potential measurements is studied. These studies suggest that IONPs coated with polyethylene glycol (PEG) are most stable. MAMs using the PEG-coated IONP colloid are then formulated and it is studied how MAM the average size and coefficient of variance vary as a function of droplet and continuous phase flow rates and viscosities. Droplet and MAM size decrease when the carrier flow rate or viscosity increases, and droplet and MAM size increase when droplet flow rate or viscosity increases. Crosslinking and drying of droplets result in MAMs whose diameter is approximate to 44% less than the original droplets while maintaining a population coefficient of variance below 8%. Conditions are identified that enable fabrication of MAMs with diameters between 30 and 60 mu m with coefficients of variance of approximate to 6-7%. These results may guide future work exploring the role of MAM size on various applications.