Continuous synthesis of elastomeric macroporous microbeads

Abstract

Macroporous microbeads are synthesized by microfluidic production of silica-loaded polymeric microdroplets followed by porogen removal via selective etching. Microdroplets are produced in a flow-focusing microreactor to ensure monodispersity with uniform porogen loading. Effects of porogen size and polymer network density on the porosity and effective modulus of the microbeads are studied.