Recent progress of microfluidic fabrication of novel functional microparticles

Functional microparticles are widely used in various fields, such as delivery and controlled release of drugs, encapsulation and protection of active materials, micro-reactions and micro-separations. Compared with traditional techniques for preparing microparticles, microfluidic technique provides an advanced platform for fabrication of monodisperse functional microparticles with well-controlled structures and functions. This review summarizes recent progress of microfluidic fabrication of novel functional microparticles. Emphases are focused on controllable fabrication of monodisperse spherical, non-spherical, hollow, core-shell, hole-shell, and multi-compartment microparticles by microfluidic techniques. © Copyright.