Recent Advances on the Generation, Stabilization, and Potential Applications of Double Emulsions Based on the Microfluidic Strategy

摘要

Double emulsions (DEs) have attracted wide attention because of its excellent encapsulation of hydrophilic and hydrophobic bioactives simultaneously. Nevertheless, the uncontrollable formation and poor stability of DEs limit their further application. Microfluidic technology is a novel strategy to produce DEs with exceptional monodispersity, excellent uniformity, configurable sizes, and adjustable internal droplet numbers. This review mainly summarized the advances of generation and stabilization of DEs based on the microfluidic strategy. We comprehensively focused on the fabrication of DEs under four different types of microfluidic chips and two common curing methods (in situ ultraviolet polymerization and in situ gelation) for DE stabilization, as well as the potential applications in bioactive loading. Also, the problem of efficient generation of microfluidic-produced droplets was raised, and the corresponding solutions were proposed. It could provide theoretical guidance on the development of DE formation and application based on the microfluidic strategy in the food industry.

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