Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ritu Toor, Amanda Neujahr Copstein, Claire Trebuchet, Bertrand Goudeau, Patrick Garrigue, Veronique Lapeyre, Adeline Perro, Valerie Ravaine
Summary: The study explores the use of stimuli-responsive microgels to stabilize coacervates, resulting in the design of polymeric capsules with hierarchical and tunable pore distribution. The coacervate acts as a sequestration core for water-soluble payload, which can be released upon coacervate dissolution, while the membrane exhibits size-selecting permeability and switchable properties.
JOURNAL OF COLLOID AND INTERFACE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Jessica Thais do Prado Silva, Vania Regina Nicoletti, Karin Schroen, Jolet de Ruiter
Summary: Crosslinking of whey protein isolate microgels with tannic acid results in soft particles that can stabilize food emulsions. The microgels show similar compression behavior at the air-water interface to synthetic microgels with a core-shell structure. At low continuous phase concentration, the microgels suppress coalescence through bridging, leading to improved stability compared to emulsions stabilized by native whey protein.
JOURNAL OF FOOD ENGINEERING
(2022)
Review
Engineering, Biomedical
Sepehr Talebian, Timothy Schofield, Peter Valtchev, Aaron Schindeler, John M. Kavanagh, Qayyum Adil, Fariba Dehghani
Summary: The potential health benefits of probiotics may not be realized due to their reduced viability during storage and gastrointestinal transit. Microencapsulation using biopolymers has been utilized to improve the resistance of probiotics to critical conditions. However, most existing methods only provide single layer protection, which is less effective than more sophisticated approaches. This review discusses emerging methods for multilayer encapsulation of probiotics using biopolymers, and examines the correlation between fabrication techniques and microparticle properties. Novel materials and approaches for multilayer structures are highlighted.
ADVANCED HEALTHCARE MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Davide Riccobelli, Hedar H. Al-Terke, Paivi Laaksonen, Pierangelo Metrangolo, Arja Paananen, Robin H. A. Ras, Pasquale Ciarletta, Dominic Vella
Summary: We report surprising morphological changes of suspension droplets during evaporation, which are influenced by the presence of the hydrophobin protein HFBI. The formation of an elastic film occurs when the concentration of the solute reaches a critical value, resulting in different morphologies for pendant and sessile droplets. A gravito-elastocapillary model explains these differences and predicts droplet morphology and shape changes, highlighting the importance of gravity even for small droplets. These findings have implications for engineering and biomedical applications involving droplet shape control.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Husnain Ahmed, Bjorn Torger Stokke
Summary: The study introduces the microfluidic fabrication of calcium alginate beads, achieving monodisperse and structurally homogeneous beads. Additionally, by controlling flow parameters, monodisperse alginate microgel populations with different diameters can be successfully generated.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yanpeng Dong, Hongwei Zhu, Xingyu Xiang, Zhongdong Wang, Asad Ullah, Sajawal Raza, Chunying Zhu, Wenyuan Fan, Bing Sun, Youguang Ma, Taotao Fu
Summary: The dynamics of viscoelastic droplet formation in T-shaped asymmetric parallel microchannels were investigated using a high-speed camera. The effects of fluid viscoelasticity and flow rates on droplet stability, uniformity, and flow distribution were explored. The results showed that the viscoelasticity influenced the different stages of droplet formation, and increasing the continuous phase flow rate improved stability and affected droplet uniformity. Prediction models for fluid flow distribution, droplet size, and formation period were established, and the breakup mode and satellite droplet size were also studied. The findings demonstrated the importance of fluid viscoelasticity and flow rates in droplet formation.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Dan Liu, Tingting Xuanyuan, Xufang Liu, Wenzhu Fu, Wenming Liu
Summary: This study presents a simple and efficient method for encapsulating single cells through the mass production of droplets and collagen-alginate microgels using a microfluidic device. The method achieved a single-cell encapsulation rate of up to 33.6% and introduced stromal material to simulate an in vivo microenvironment. The single-cell manipulation achievement provides a methodological approach for developing simple and miniaturized devices for high-throughput single-cell manipulation and analysis in a microenvironment-biomimetic manner.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Food Science & Technology
Pooja Pandey, Srinivas Mettu, Hari Niwas Mishra, Muthupandian Ashokkumar, Gregory J. O. Martin
Summary: Double emulsion microcapsules containing probiotic lactic acid bacteria and bioactive amino-butyric acid were successfully prepared using two-step ultrasonication, demonstrating stability, high viability, and prolonged encapsulation release.
LWT-FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sebastian Stock, Susanne Roehl, Luca Mirau, Matthias Kraume, Regine von Klitzing
Summary: The incorporation of soft hydrophilic particles at the interface of water in non-polar oil emulsion droplets is crucial, but it is not possible to stabilize the emulsions with hydrophilic soft material alone. Previous works have shown that using hydrophobic silica nanospheres and charged microgel particles is an effective strategy to stabilize w/o emulsions while incorporating a large amount of microgel particles at the interface.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Minghua Wang, Yael Rosenberg, Moshe Rosenberg
Summary: The study investigated the effects of wall composition and heat treatment on the formation of core-in-wall emulsions, finding that whey proteins preferentially adsorbed at the O/W interface, leading to excellent long-term oxidative stability in microcapsules. This opens new opportunities for developing stable lipid-containing microcapsules and dairy powders.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Shubham Sharma, Roven Pinto, Abhishek Saha, Swetaprovo Chaudhuri, Saptarshi Basu
Summary: Face masks can prevent the transmission of infectious respiratory diseases by blocking large droplets and aerosols. Single or double-layer masks may not effectively block the penetration of large droplets, leading to their atomization into smaller droplets that can remain airborne. Therefore, three-layer masks may be more effective in preventing the spread of these droplets.
Article
Food Science & Technology
Hyeon Ji Jeon, Seung-hwan You, Mijin Kwon, Minhye Shin, Sang-Kyu Kim, Young Hoon Jung
Summary: In this study, various probiotic strains were encapsulated using tara gum, basic amino acids, rice protein, and red ginseng dietary fiber to improve their viability and adhesion to intestinal cells. The multilayer-coated probiotic strains showed higher survival rates under low pH and bile acid conditions, as well as increased adhesion to intestinal epithelial cells. Additionally, the multicoating technology improved the storage stability of the probiotic strains after freeze-drying.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Review
Engineering, Chemical
Weiguang Su, Bing Han, Siegfried Yeboah, Dengfeng Du, Li Wang
Summary: Microfluidics has been widely applied in the preparation of monodisperse droplets and microcapsules. The review covers the design, structure, materials, and surface modification techniques of various microfluidic chips. Various fabrication methods, operating parameters, and regulation methods of monodisperse emulsion droplets are discussed. The application of monodisperse microcapsules in different fields is also reviewed, and the potential for high-throughput microfluidics for scale-up monodisperse microcapsule preparation is highlighted.
REVIEWS IN CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Andrew Terhemen Tyowua, Msugh Targema, Emmanuel Etim Ubuo
Summary: This study reports a simple method for preparing anisotropic Pickering emulsion droplets without the need for elevated temperatures, exotic particles, and equipment. By shearing mixtures of salt solution, particles, and oil, emulsion droplets with different shapes can be obtained, which are affected by salt concentration.
JOURNAL OF DISPERSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Sahin Demirci, S. Duygu Sutekin, Olgun Guven, Nurettin Sahiner
Summary: Poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate) (p(AEM)) microgels were synthesized and used for metal nanoparticle preparation. These microgels were then incorporated into p(AEM) based poly ionic liquid (PIL) microgels, which served as catalysts for hydrogen production from sodium borohydride (NaBH4) reactions. The catalytic activity and regeneration ability of the microgels were analyzed, showing promising results.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HYDROGEN ENERGY
(2023)