Polymeric Microparticles Generated via Confinement‐Free Fluid Instability

Abstract

In‐fiber fluid instability can be harnessed to realize scalable microparticles fabrication with tunable sizes and multifunctional characteristics making it competitive in comparison to conventional microparticles fabrication methods. However, since in‐fiber fluid instability has to be induced via thermal annealing and the resulting microparticles can only be collected after dissolving the fiber cladding, obtaining contamination‐free particles for high‐temperature incompatible materials remains great challenge. Herein, confinement‐free fluid instability is demonstrated to fabricate polymeric microparticles in a facile manner induced by the ultralow surface energy of the superamphiphobic surface. The polymer solution columns break up into uniform droplets then form spherical particles spontaneously in seconds at ambient temperature. This method can be applied to a variety of polymers spanning an exceptionally wide range of sizes: from 1 mm down to 1 µm. With the aid of microfluidic spinning instrument, a large quantity of microparticles can be obtained, making this method promising for scaling up production. Notably, through simple modification of the feed solution configuration, composite/structured micromaterials can also be produced, including quantum‐dots‐labeled fluorescent particles, magnetic particles, core–shell particles, microcapsules, and necklace‐like microfibers. This method, with general applicability and facile control, is envisioned to have great prospects in the field of polymer microprocessing.

A stable fluoride-based interphase for a long cycle Zn metal anode in an aqueous zinc ion battery

“…Good wettability is conducive to retaining the electrolyte for the electrode and will enhance the distribution of interfacial ions. 39 As can be seen from Fig. 3a and b, the contact angles of bare zinc and the Zn@CaF 2 anode in the 3 M ZnSO 4 electrolyte were tested.…”

Preparation of Janus Droplets and Hydrogels with Controllable Morphologies by an Aqueous Two-Phase System on the Superamphiphobic Surface

“…In other words, the size of the Janus droplets and particles could be tuned via our strategy by simply adjusting the dosing on demand. In terms of this research, the theoretical minimum size of droplets (about 1 μm) is determined by the spacing between neighboring protrusions of the as-prepared superamphiphobic surfaces …”

Durable Super-repellent Surfaces: From Solid–Liquid Interaction to Applications

“…On this basis, a strategy that uses a spontaneous confinement-free Rayleigh instability of polymer solution columns on the superamphiphobic surface was developed (Figure 8f). 48 Ultrafast polymer microdroplets can be formed in this way at ambient temperature, which is friendly to thermally intolerable materials. The polymer microdroplets were evolved into polymer microspheres via in situ evaporation or cross-linking.…”

“…Copyright 2020 Springer Nature. (f–i) Reproduced with permission from ref . Copyright 2021 John Wiley and Sons.…”

“…The resulting polymer microsphere size is uniform and changes from 10 μm to the capillary length of the polymer melt. On this basis, a strategy that uses a spontaneous confinement-free Rayleigh instability of polymer solution columns on the super­amphi­phobic surface was developed (Figure f) . Ultrafast polymer microdroplets can be formed in this way at ambient temperature, which is friendly to thermally intolerable materials.…”