Monodisperse red blood cell-like particles via consolidation of charged droplets

Abstract

Recently, researchers have tried to produce non-spherical and anisotropic particles to be used in the next generation of multi-functional materials. Of key interest is the red blood cell-like particle. The torus structure was produced under the relatively fast consolidation of monodisperse droplets, and its parameters were found to be tunable by temperature as well as solvent type and concentration. The observation of consolidation demonstrated that the polymers were accumulated and solidified in the torus structure, naturally, whereas there was the critical droplet size to induce the asymmetry diffusivities. The torus structures could be simply tuned by the flow rate and concentration. The coaxial nozzle system produced the core/shell torus particles. These results state that the consolidation mechanism can hold important clues to enhance the range of tuning capabilities. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.