A novel method of generating hydrogel particles for various applications including drug delivery purposes was developed. This method is based on the production of hydrogel particles from sprayed polymeric nano/microdroplets obtained by a nebulization process that is immediately followed by gelation in a crosslinking fluid. In this study, particle synthesis parameters such as type of nebulizer, type of crosslinker, air pressure, and polymer concentration were investigated for their impact on the mean particle size, swelling behavior, and morphology of the developed particles. Spherical alginate-based hydrogel particles with a mean particle size in the range from 842 to 886 nm were obtained. Using statistical analysis of the factorial design of experiment it was found that the main factors influencing the size and swelling values of the particles are the alginate concentration and the air pressure. Thus, it was demonstrated that the method described in the current study is promising for the generation of hydrogel particles and it constitutes a relatively simple and low-cost system.

中文翻译：

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一种用于生产水凝胶颗粒的新型气溶胶方法。

开发了一种为各种应用（包括药物输送目的）生成水凝胶颗粒的新方法。该方法基于从喷雾过程获得的喷雾聚合物纳米/微滴生产水凝胶颗粒，然后立即在交联流体中凝胶化。在本研究中，研究了雾化器类型、交联剂类型、气压和聚合物浓度等颗粒合成参数对平均粒径、溶胀行为和所开发颗粒形态的影响。获得了平均粒径在 842 至 886 nm 范围内的球形藻酸盐基水凝胶颗粒。通过对试验析因设计的统计分析发现，影响颗粒尺寸和溶胀值的主要因素是海藻酸盐浓度和气压。因此，表明当前研究中描述的方法有希望用于生成水凝胶颗粒，并且它构成了一个相对简单和低成本的系统。