Microfluidic formation of hydrogel microcapsules using coupling reaction in emulsion droplets

• Project/Area Number: 16K20985
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Reaction engineering/Process system; Biomedical engineering/Biomaterial science and engineering
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: Watanabe Takaichi 岡山大学, 自然科学研究科, 助教 (60743979)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥900,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
• Keywords: マイクロカプセル / ゲル粒子 / マイクロ流体デバイス / 水性二相 / 液滴内相分離 / 相分離 / ハイドロゲル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a simple continuous process to prepare tetra-arm poly(ethylene glycol) (tetra-PEG) hydrogel microcapsules consisting of a single aqueous core and a hydrogel shell by combining aqueous two phase system formation and end-coupling reaction of tetra-PEG macromonomers in aqueous droplets. Different from the conventional process, our process enables the production of monodisperse hydrogel microcapsules with controlled structures just by feeding solutions into a microfluidic device, without the use of any external stimuli for cross-linking reaction.

Research Products

• [Presentation] Structural Control of Hydrogel Microparticles Using Aqueous Two Phase Separation within Emulsion Droplets (2018)
  • Author(s): Takaichi Watanabe，Ibuki Motohiro, Tsutomu Ono
  • Organizer: The 6th Asian Symposium on Emulsion Polymerization and Functional Polymeric Microspheres
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 水溶性物質を内包したステレオコンプレックス型ポリ乳酸系ナノカプセルの調製とその徐放特性評価 (2017)
  • Author(s): 渡邉貴一，坂本優衣，小野努
  • Organizer: 化学工学会 第81年会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京
  • Year and Date: 2017-03-06
• [Presentation] 水性二相系を利用したTetra-PEGハイドロゲルマイクロカプセルの開発 (2017)
  • Author(s): 元廣伊吹，渡邉貴一，小野努
  • Organizer: 化学工学会第49回秋季大会
• [Presentation] Microfluidic fabrication of monodisperse Tetra-PEG hydrogel microcapsules using controlled phase separation in water-in-water-in-oil double emulsion droplets (2017)
  • Author(s): Ibuki Motohiro，Takaichi Watanabe，Tsutomu Ono
  • Organizer: 10th World Congress of Chemical Engineering
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Design of coaxial microfluidic devices for controlled droplet formation (2016)
  • Author(s): Takaichi Watanabe, Junya Masuda, Tsutomu Ono
  • Organizer: 14th International Conference on MicroREaction Technology
  • Place of Presentation: Beijing, China
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-12
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Coaxial型マイクロ流体デバイスを用いた単分散高分子微粒子の調製 (2016)
  • Author(s): 渡邉貴一，小野努
  • Organizer: 化学工学会 第48回秋季大会
  • Place of Presentation: 徳島
  • Year and Date: 2016-09-06