Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and

Engineering Aspects
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa

Microfluidic preparation of monodisperse hollow polyacrylonitrile

microspheres for ICF
Lurong Qin a, b, Meifang Liu a, Yong Yi b, *, Qiang Yin a, *, Ke Cao c
a
Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China
b
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China
c
State Key Laboratory for Environment-friendly Energy Materials, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Monodisperse hollow polyacrylonitrile

microspheres were successfully pre­
pared by the microfluidic technique.
• The effect of the surfactants on the sta­
bility of the compound droplets and the
quality of resulting microspheres was
investigated.
• The size relationship between the com­
pound droplets and the microspheres
was also studied.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Hollow polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microspheres can be used as fuel carriers in inertial confinement fusion (ICF)
Hollow polyacrylonitrile microspheres experiments due to their high tensile strength, low permeability to hydrogen isotopes, and resistance to tritium
Microfluidic technique radiation corrosion. Monodisperse oil in water in oil (O1/W/O2) compound droplets were fabricated by the
Monospersity
microfluidic technique and then monodisperse hollow polyacrylonitrile microspheres were prepared by the
Stability
Sphericity
solvent evaporation method. The stability of O1/W/O2 compound droplets was improved by the addition of the
surfactant (Dow Corning 749), which reduced the interfacial tension between the O2 phase and the W phase as
well as the Laplace pressure on the surface of the compound droplets. The sphericity and the surface quality of
the microspheres were also improved by the introduction of DMF droplets into the O2 phase to avoid emulsi­
fication, decreasing the DMF mass transfer rate. Therefore, fine monodisperse PAN microspheres with the
diameter range of 700–800 µm were successfully prepared. Moreover, the size relationship between the com­
pound droplets and the resulting microspheres was also evaluated, which can be used to predict the sizes of the
PAN microspheres. The results provide a method for controllable preparation of monodisperse hollow PAN
microspheres for ICF experiments.

1. Introduction high specific surface area, and high utilization of internal space,
arousing tremendous interest in the field of drug delivery systems,
Polymer hollow microspheres exhibit the advantages of low density, cosmetics, catalysts, and so forth [1–3]. In particular, polymer hollow

* Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: yiyong@swust.edu.cn (Y. Yi), qyin839@sina.com (Q. Yin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127955
Received 4 September 2021; Received in revised form 15 November 2021; Accepted 20 November 2021
Available online 29 November 2021
0927-7757/© 2021 Published by Elsevier B.V.
L. Qin et al.
microspheres can also be used as fuel containers of the inertial
confinement fusion (ICF) experiments [4,5], an effective method to
achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion, which is of great strategic
significance in the field of national defense security and new clean en­
ergy. To reduce hydrodynamic instability in the implosion for the ICF, it
is required that polymer hollow microspheres meet some stringent
specifications such as fine monodispersity, very smooth surfaces, a high
order of wall thickness uniformity, and good sphericity [6,7]. Generally,
polymer hollow microspheres can be fabricated by the following steps
[8], including the fabrication of the O1/W/O2 compound droplets, the
curing process (the removal of the solvent in the middle phase of the
compound droplets), and the drying process (the removal of the inner
phase). Therefore, it is important to precisely control every step, making
the quality of the microspheres satisfied for the ICF experiments.
Guglielmi firstly pointed out that the PAN could be used as a raw
material for ICF targets due to its high tensile strength, low permeability
to hydrogen isotopes, and resistance to tritium radiation corrosion
[9–12]. Much work about how to fabricate PAN hollow microspheres to
meet these stringent requirements was done for ICF experiments. Dong
et al. [13] firstly fabricated the PAN hollow microspheres via simple
mechanical stirring emulsification. However, it was hard to control the
distribution of the diameter and the wall thickness, and there was also
more than one inner droplet in the compound droplets. Developed with
the microfluidic technology, PAN hollow microspheres were also
fabricated by an assembly double T-junction droplet generator [14,15].
The density matching principle was used to improve the wall thickness
uniformity and sphericity of those PAN microspheres [16]. The diameter
distribution of the microspheres in a bath was polydispersity, which was
probably due to the polydispersity and instability of the initial com­
pound droplets [17–19], since compound droplets were thermody­
namically unstable and tended to rupture and coalescence to get a low
energy position, resulting in diameter change and polydispersity [20,
21]. Consequently, to improve the monodispersity of the PAN micro­
spheres, it was necessary to further improve that of initial compound
droplets and their stability.
During the past few decades, kinds of microfluidic devices with
different geometric structures were employed to prepare monodisperse
O1/W/O2 compound droplets, including the co-flowing, flow-focusing,
and double T-junctions [22,23]. Among these microfluidic devices, Wu
et al. [24,25] studied the dynamic behaviors of compound droplets
formation process, and the results showed that the compound droplets
prepared by the co-flowing microfluidic device processed narrower size
distribution since the shearing force (the continuous phase bringing to
disperse phase) was more uniform. Herein, a co-flowing microfluidic
device was fabricated to controllable prepare O1/W/O2 compound
droplets. Then, to avoid the adverse effect of the unstable behavior of the
compound droplets on the monodispersity of the microspheres, different
surfactants were preferably used to inhibit the coalescence and the
rupture of the compound droplets. Later, the size relationship between
the compound droplets and the resulting microspheres was also evalu­
ated. Finally, monodisperse PAN hollow microspheres with good sphe­
ricity and surface quality were successfully fabricated by the
optimization of the curing process.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Polyacrylonitrile (PAN, Mw = 150000, ρs = 1.184 g cm-− 3) and
Aliquat◦ 336 were from Sigma-Aldrich Company. Both Ethanol and N, N-
dimethylformamide (DMF) were obtained from Chengdu Kelong
Chemical Reagent Factory. Silicone oil with different viscosity was
purchased from Japan Shinetsu Chemical Co. Ltd., Japan. Dow Corning
749 was from Guangzhou DaiXun Trading Co., Ltd.
2
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955
2.2. Preparation of PAN hollow microspheres
2.2.1. Formation of O1/W/O2 compound droplets
As shown in Fig. 1, 50 cs silicone oil, 8% PAN/DMF solution and 50
cs silicone oil were used as the inner oil (O1) phase, the water (W) phase,
and the outer oil (O2) phase, respectively. The O1, W, and O2 phases
were transported into the droplet generator by three syringes controlled
by separate syringe pumps (LSP01–1 A, Baoding Lange Constant Flow
Pump Co., Ltd.). The size of the co-flowing microfluidic device of the
three phases was shown in Table 1. The co-flowing microfluidic device
was a “one-step” device in which both the end of the steel needle and
that of the plastic tube were on the same level. In the process of fabri­
cating O1/W/O2 compound droplets, the O1 phase left the O1 tube and
was surrounded by the W phase to form oil in water (O1/W) droplets at
the end of the O1 tube. Then, they were stripped off from the O2 phase,
forming the O1/W/O2 compound droplets in the competition of the
interfacial tension force, drag force, inertia force, and so on [26].
2.2.2. Curing of O1/W/O2 compound droplets
Two hundred compound droplets were collected in a rotary evapo­
rating flask. Then, the flask was set into place in a water bath at the
temperature of 45 ℃ and stirred vertically at a certain speed (35 rpm)
for 48 h to remove the solvent DMF in the W phase. The PAN hollow
microspheres containing the internal oil phase were prepared.
2.2.3. Drying of PAN microspheres
To remove inner silicone oil of the PAN microspheres, 10 cs, 5 cs, 1
cs, 0.65 cs silicone oil, and ethanol were used to replace inner droplets
for 24 h, respectively. Consequently, the inner silicone oil with high
viscosity was replaced by ethanol with volatility. To avoid the collapse
of the hollow microspheres, a supercritical dryer was employed to
remove ethanol to obtain the solvent-free PAN hollow microspheres at
the temperature of 45 ℃ for 6 h under 280 bar carbon dioxide (CO2)
pressure and 5 g⋅min− 1 flow rate of CO2.
2.3. Characterization
Both the size of compound droplets and the PAN microspheres were
observed and measured by a high-precision optical microscope. The
other characterization of surface is shown in Supporting Information
(SI). The density of the W phases was measured precisely by a densi­
tometer (Anton Paar®, DMA 5000) at room temperature. The dynamic
interfacial tension (IFT) between W and O2 phase was measured pre­
cisely by an interfacial tension meter (Krüss DSA25) via the pendant
drop method [27].
Thirty O1/W/O2 compound droplets were taken to measure their
diameter, and the coefficient variation (CV) was used to estimate their
monodispersity:
CV(%) = σ/d × 100% (1)
Where σ and d are the standard deviation and average diameter of the
compound droplets, respectively.
According to Eq. (2), the sphericity of microspheres can be
calculated:
( )
Lmax − Lmin
s = 1− × 100% (2)
Lave
Where Lmax, Lmin, Lave, are the maximum, minimum, and average
diameter of microspheres, respectively.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Controllable preparation of monodisperse compound droplets
According to the formation principle of compound droplets in the co-
L. Qin et al. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955

Fig. 1. Preparation process of PAN hollow microspheres.

Table 1
Size of the co-flowing microfluidic device of three phases.
Tube Material Inner diameter (μm) Outer diameter (μm)
Inner phase tube Steel needle 250 500
Middle phase tube Teflon tube 750 1500
Outer phase tube Glass tube 1800 2500
flowing microfluidic device, when the volume of internal phase droplets
increased to a certain point, the shearing force of the middle phase is
greater than its interfacial tension, so the O1/W droplets are stripped off
from the O2 phase, forming the O1/W/O2 compound droplets [26].
Therefore, the effect of the three-phase flow rates on the diameter of the
compound droplets was investigated since the flow rates influenced the
shearing force and the size of the droplets. The monodisperse PAN
compound droplets with the diameter in the range of 800 µm − 1800 µm
could be prepared by adjusting the flow rates in this co-flowing micro­
fluidic device.
For example, the compound droplets were prepared with three-phase
flow rates of 1 ml/h, 3 ml/h, and 30 ml/h (Fig. 2). The average inner
diameter and outer diameter of the compound droplets were 749 µm and
1204 µm, respectively. The corresponding coefficient variation value
was 2.1% and 0.3%, respectively. It indicated that compound droplets
with fine monodispersity were successfully prepared, which was
significantly better than the reported value [16].
3.2. Effect of surfactants on stability of compound droplets
Compound droplets are thermodynamically unstable systems and are
prone to coalesce and rupture [28]. Avoiding the coalescence and the
rupture of the compound droplets is not only the basic condition for
obtaining hollow microspheres but also conducive to the monodispersity
of the microspheres. Hence, the effect of different surfactants, including
the water-soluble surfactant (Aliquat◦ 336) and the oil-soluble surfactant
(Dow Corning 749) on the stability of the compound droplets were
investigated. As shown in Fig. 3(a), for the compound droplets without
any surfactant, the coalescence (the solid circle) occurred in 1 min.
Meanwhile, some compound droplets ruptured (the dashed circle). The
stabilization time was prolonged with 10% Aliquat◦ 336, but the com­
pound droplets still coalesced and ruptured. The coalescence occurred in
some compound droplets stay closed. Specifically, two nearly compound
droplets coalesced to form a bigger compound droplet, leading to that
containing more than one inner droplet, and then the inner droplets
fused to form single O1 droplets (Fig. 3(b)). The diameter of the new
compound droplets became larger and the wall thickness was different
from that of the initial compound droplets. Consequently, it can be
speculated that the size of the whole compound droplets presented
polydispersity. For compound droplets with the addition of 3% Dow
Corning 749, which showed better stability. There was no coalescence
and no rupture in 2 h (Fig. 3(c)), which benefited the monodispersity of
the microspheres. Compared with Aliquat◦ 336, a smaller amount of
Dow Corning 749 could achieve a good stabilizing effect for the
O1/W/O2 compound droplets.
The stable mechanism of the surfactants was also investigated. As
shown in Table 2, when there was no surfactant, the interfacial tension
between the W phase and the O2 phase was 2.0 mN/m. The interfacial
tension did not change with Aliquat◦ 336. Nevertheless, the W/O2
interfacial tension was reduced by nearly 55% with the addition of Dow
Corning 749. PAN initial compound droplets were ellipsoidal (Fig. 4),
and the inner droplets were eccentric, which was similar to the literature

Fig. 2. O1/W/O2 compound droplets (a) optical image and (b) size distribution.

3
L. Qin et al. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955

Fig. 3. Stability of O1/W/O2 compound droplets with different surfactants. (a) No addition, (b) Aliquat◦ 336, and (c) Dow Corning 749.

bottom, the pressure difference (ΔP) between the top and the bottom in
Table 2
the W phase can be calculated by Eq. (2).
Interfacial tension between W phase and O2 phase.
Sample W phase O2 phase Interfacial tension of W/O2 (Rmax − Rmin )
ΔP = 2γ(W/O2) (2)
（mN/m） Rmax Rmin
1 DMF 5cs silicone oil 2.0
2 DMF- 5cs silicone oil 2.0
Where the γ(W/O2) is interfacial tension between the W phase and the O2
Aliquat◦ 336 phase. The bigger the pressure difference, the quicker the flow rate.
3 DMF 5cs silicone oil Dow 0.9 Therefore, the W phase film became thinner until the interfacial film
Corning 749 cannot resist Pmax, so the compound droplets rupture to form a single
droplet. For the Dow Corning 749, the pressure difference decreased
with the decrease of interfacial tension, leading to the W phase flowing
from the top to the bottom slowly, which benefited the stability of the
compound droplets. Furthermore, coalescence processes could also be
prevented by the Dow Corning 749, which may attribute to the low
interfacial tension decreasing in the subsequently free energy of the
interface.

3.3. Effect of surfactants on quality of PAN microspheres

Fig. 4. Role of the interfacial tension on the rupture process in com­
pound droplets.
[29]. Moreover, the density of the O1 phase was less than that of the W
phase, which led to the O1 phase droplets floating in the compound
droplets, and thus the thickness of the W phase film was different. That is
to say, the film on the top of O1 was very thin, and the film on the
bottom of O1 was thick. Hence, The smallest outer radius (Rmin)
appeared at the top, and the largest outer radius (Rmax) appeared at the
Fig. 5(a) and (c) showed the microspheres prepared with no surfac­
tant and Aliquat◦ 336, respectively. The surface of the microspheres was
smoother, but the monodispersity was bad because of unstable behavior
among the compound droplets. Some bigger microspheres appeared due
to the coalescence during the curing process. In addition, there were also
some pellets due to the rupture. The size distribution of these micro­
spheres showed bad monodispersity (Fig. 5(b), and (d)), which was
attributed to the bad stability of the compound droplets. For the PAN
microspheres prepared with Dow Corning 749 (Fig. 6), there were no
bigger microspheres and pellets. However, the shape of the micro­
spheres was similar to that of the initial compound droplets. They were
ellipsoid and some small holes appeared on the microspheres. Besides,
the microspheres with the crumpled surface were obtained.
The schematic diagram of the curing process is shown in Fig. S2, and
it has been reported that the interfacial tension is the driving force for
the compound droplets becoming spherical in the curing process [31].
Cook et al. [32] deduced the empirical formula of δOOR (out of round­
ness) based on a large number of process experimental results:
5gr3 Δρ
δOOR = (3)
4γ

4
L. Qin et al. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955

Fig. 5. PAN hollow microspheres and their size distribution (a, b) No additions, and (c, d) Aliquat◦ 336.

Fig. 6. PAN hollow microspheres with the Dow Corning 749.

Where g is the acceleration of gravity, Δρ is the density difference be­
tween the compound droplets and the external phase, r is the radius of
the compound droplets, and γ is the interfacial tension between the
water phase and the external oil phase. It could be seen that the smaller
the γ, the higher the δOOR, so the γ has an apparent influence on the
microstructure of PAN microspheres. The Dow Corning 749 greatly
reduced the oil-water interfacial tension, which was not in favor of the
spheroidization of the compound droplets. Moreover, it had been
observed that the Dow Corning 749 caused DMF to emulsify in the O2
phase to form DMF/O2 microemulsion during the curing process, which
accelerated the solvent transfer of DMF between the compound droplets
and the O2 phase. It also made the O2 phase became white, resulting in
quick curing and capsulation of the W film. As a consequence, there was
not enough time for ellipsoid compound droplets to become spherical,
leading to the bad sphericity and rough surface. From the experimental
results, the introduction of Dow Corning 749 could improve the stability
of the compound droplets, but it brought adverse effects on the sphe­
ricity and surface quality of the microspheres.
3.4. Improvement on quality of PAN microspheres
The curing process of PAN compound droplets is a mass transfer
process in which DMF diffuses from the water phase and dissolves into
the O2 phase continuously. At this time, PAN concentration increases
rapidly, and the spherical shells gradually harden [30]. To improve the
quality of PAN microspheres prepared with Dow Corning 749, the DMF
mass transfer from the W phase to the O2 phase should be decreased. It
had been reported that the introduction of the solvent droplets in the
external phase could decrease the mass transfer, improving the

5
L. Qin et al.
sphericity [33]. Intuitively, the addition of DMF in the O2 phase could
reduce the concentration difference between the W phase and O2 phase,
resulting in a slower mass transformation rate and longer curing time
(Fig. 7). Herein, the additional amount of DMF droplets was firstly
calculated. Under the experimental condition, the whole system con­
sisted of the O2 phase and the air above the rotary evaporating flask.
According to the ideal gas law, the total quantity of DMF saturated in the
whole system could be calculated:
PV
mDMF(air) = MDMF × (4)
RT
mDMF(O2) = S × VO2 (5)
m = mDMF(O2) + mDMF(air) (6)
Where P is the saturated vapor pressure of DMF under the curing tem­
perature, V is the volume of the gas phase, R is the ideal gas constant,
and S is the saturability of DMF in the O2 phase (it was assumed to be
0.1% in this work). mDMF(air) and mDMF(O2) are the mass of DMF in the air
and the O2 phase, respectively. M is the total DMF quantity saturated in
the whole system. So it indicated that 0.22 g DMF was required to
saturate the whole system at least.
Meanwhile, the quantity of DMF in 200 O1/W/O2 compound
droplets was:
(
4 4
) ( ) pound droplets should be the same as that in the microspheres. There­
mDMF(O1/W/O2) = ρ1 × πRout 3 − πRin 3 × 1 − C × 200 (7)
3 3
Finally, the addition of DMF can be calculated using Eq. (7):
maddition = m − mDMF(O1/W/O2) (8)
Where Rout and Rin are the outer radii and inner radii of the compound
droplets, respectively. VW and ρ1 are the volume and density of the W
phase, respectively. C is the mass fraction of the PAN solution. According
to the calculation results, the mass of DMF in the total compound
droplets was 0.12 g, so it could be seen that 0.1 g DMF droplets in the O2
phase could saturate the whole system at least, except for the mass of
DMF in the compound droplets. 0.5 g, 1.0 g, 1.5 g, and 2.0 g DMF (the
density of DMF at 25 ℃ is around 1 g⋅cm− 3) were added to the O2 phase,
respectively. To reduce the effect of emulsification, the actual volume of
the addition was more than that calculated in this process. As shown in
Fig. 8, when the amount of DMF added was 0.5 g, the degree of spher­
oidicity of the microspheres weakened, there were fewer surface wrin­
kles, and the wall thickness of the microspheres was more uniform, but
there were still some microspheres with a hole on the surface. When the
amount of DMF increased to 1.0 g, the spheroidicity decreased further,
and the number of microspheres with a hole on the surface was also
reduced, but the wall thickness of the microspheres was still uneven. For
Fig. 7. Experimental design of effect of solvent migration on sphericity and quality of PAN microspheres.
6
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955
the addition of 1.5 g and 2.0 g DMF, the microspheres appeared spher­
ical, and it seemed that the wall thickness was uniform. Moreover, there
was no hole on the surface, and the surface quality was improved. The
SEM image of original microspheres and improved microspheres were
consistent with the results of optical image that a lower solvent migra­
tion makes microspheres with a smooth inner and outer surface, leaving
a higher surface quality (Fig. S3). The improvement of surface quality
can also be verified by white light interferometer, the Ra, Rq, and Rt
values decreased with the increase amount of DMF (Fig. S4). In addition,
the introduction of the DMF could also improve the sphericity of the
microspheres. The sphericity of most PAN microspheres prepared with
2.0 g DMF was more than 97% (Fig. 9). It could be seen that the
decreased DMF mass transfer could eliminate the adverse defects
brought by Dow Corning 749. Therefore, we optimize the curing method
that calculated DMF droplets are added in the O2 phase for a lower
solvent migration, thus sphericity and surface quality have been further
improved.
3.5. Size relationship between compound droplets and microspheres
The size of the compound droplets changed due to the evaporation of
the solvent DMF from the W phase during the curing process, there was a
size relationship between the compound droplets and the microspheres.
According to the mass conservation law, the mass of PAN in the com­
fore, the theoretical outer diameter of the resulting microsphere could
be calculated (the inner diameter was assumed not to change [34]):
( )
4 4
mPAN(O1/W/O2) = ρ1 × πR1out 3 − πRin 3 ∗ C (9)
3 3
(
4 4
)
mPANmicrosphere = mPAN(O1/W/O2) = ρ2 × πR2out 3 − πRin 3 (10)
3 3
Where mPAN（O1/W/O2） and mPAN（microsphere） are the mass of PAN in
the O1/W/O2 compound droplets and the microspheres, respectively. ρ1
and ρ2 are the density of the W phase and the PAN at room temperature,
which are 0.96 g⋅cm− 3 and 1.18 g⋅cm− 3, respectively. R1out, R2out, R1in,
R2in are the outer and inner radii diameter of the compound droplets and
the PAN microspheres, respectively. For the compound droplets with the
average outer diameter (1204 µm) and inner diameter (749 µm), the
calculated result showed that theoretical outer diameter and wall
thickness of the PAN microspheres were 797 µm, 24 µm, respectively.
The experimental results (Fig. 10) showed that the inner diameter of the
PAN microspheres was 767 µm, larger than that of the initial compound
droplets, which probably attributed to the migration of the silicone oil
from the O2 phase to the inside during the curing process. According to
the calculation formula ((9) and (10)), the theoretical shrinkage rate of
L. Qin et al.
Fig. 8. PAN hollow microspheres with different addition of DMF (a) 0.5 g, (b) 1.0 g, (c) 1.5 g, and (d) 2.0 g.
Fig. 9. Sphericity of PAN hollow microspheres with the introduction of DMF.
wall thickness from compound droplets to microspheres was 89% when
the W phase concentration was 8%, but experimental results showed
that the wall thickness did not shrink to that extent. Specifically, the size
measurements showed that the wall thickness of the resulting micro­
spheres was 30 µm, larger than the calculation value, which indicated
that there was some solvent (DMF or silicone oil) that remained in the
wall at the microspheres. This problem could be solved by the extension
of curing time or the increase of the curing temperature in the later
experiment. For the resulting microspheres, the value of CV for inner
diameter and outer diameter was 0.5% and 1.9%, respectively. It indi­
cated fine monodispersity of the resulting microspheres.
7
Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects 641 (2022) 127955
Fig. 10. Size distribution of PAN hollow microspheres with 2.0 g DMF.
4. Conclusion
To fabricate PAN hollow microspheres meeting the requirements of
ICF experiments, monodisperse millimeter-sized O1/W/O2 compound
droplets were successfully prepared by the microfluidic technique. The
unstable behaviors including the rupture and the coalescence of these
compound droplets were suppressed by the surfactant (Dow Corning
749), which benefited the monodispersity of the resulting microspheres.
The sphericity and surface quality of the microspheres were also
improved by the introduction of the DMF droplets into the O2 phase,
decreasing the DMF mass transfer rate. Therefore, fine monodisperse
PAN hollow microspheres were successfully fabricated. Moreover, the
inner diameter increased during the curing process due to the migration
L. Qin et al.
of silicone oil from the O2 phase to the O1 phase, and the wall thickness
was larger than the calculated value.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Lurong Qin: Methodology, Data curation, Writing – original draft,
Writing – review & editing. Meifang Liu: Investigation, Methodology,
Writing – review & editing. Qiang yin: Investigation, Resources, Su­
pervision. Yong Yi: Conceptualization, Supervision. Ke Cao: Concep­
tualization, Supervision, Project administration.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank for the financial support of the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (No. 51703212 and No. 52073264), and
the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Environment-friendly En­
ergy Materials (No.19kfhg02).
Appendix A. Supporting information
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in the
online version at doi:10.1016/j.colsurfa.2021.127955.
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