Formation of monodisperse silica microparticles with various shapes and surface morphologies using double emulsion templates

• We present a simple method to generate various types of silica microparticles.
• Silica microparticles are monodisperse and the porosity can be controlled.
• We find that their types can be tuned by varying just a few key parameters.
• The types include smooth and crumbled microshells, microdisks, and microspheres.

We report a simple method to generate monodisperse mesoporous silica particles from double emulsion templates generated by glass capillary microfluidic devices. Silica precursors in the middle phase of double emulsion templates are polymerized and self assembled to mesoporous structures of triblock copolymer templates. We find that various types of silica microparticles, including smooth and crumbled microshells, microdisks, and microspheres, can be generated by varying polymerization temperature and the outer fluid. This method provides a convenient strategy to generate silica mesoporous microparticles with a variety of shapes and surface morphologies by tuning a few key parameters.

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