Fabrication of millimeter-scale TMPTA-foam spherical shells via microfluidic technology

Foam shells with millimeter size were fabricated by microfluidic technology. By design and discussion, Y model channel has the best fluid velocity distribution uniformity in different channels. Y model microfluidic chip was obtained by soft template technology, with which the control conditions of TMPTA are discussed. Results show that the diameter and shell thickness can be controlled by adjusting the fluid velocity in different channels. Furthermore, the density of foam shell is dominated by concentration of reaction monomer. The foam shells with density of 20-100 mg/cm³ and diameter of more than 3 mm were obtained by optimizing the control conditions. (authors)