A smart solid-state liquid crystal (LC_solid) shell membrane template prepared by a microfluidic method with a reactive mesogen mixture of RMM727 (from Merck) doped with a nematic liquid crystal of 4′-pentyl-4-biphenylcarbonitrile (5CB) as a porogen was used for a facile and general method to produce uniformly sized hydrogel droplets. The reactive hydrogel monomers were incorporated into the core of the LC_solid shell through the shell pores by immersing the LC_solid shells in the reactive hydrogel monomer mixture. Subsequently, the hydrogel monomer mixture outside the LC_solid shells was replaced with a non-reactive medium that can close the pores because of its poor solvent nature with respect to the LC_solid shell, confining the hydrogel monomer mixture at the core during UV curing. After UV curing, uniformly sized hydrogel droplets were hatched out from the LC_solid shell when the hydrogel droplet-containing LC_solid shells were put into a solvent, causing the hydrogel droplets to swell more than the LC_solid shells. The hydrogel droplets were separated from the broken LC_solid shell using two immiscible solvents, each of which contained hydrogel droplets and broken LC_solid shells. The hydrogel droplets generated based on the LC_solid shell template were poly(acrylic acid) (PAA), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), and P(AA-co-NIPAM), which denote the pH-, temperature-, and dual (both pH and temperature)-responsive properties. In particular, the molar ratio of the P(AA-co-NIPAM) hydrogel droplet composition could be easily altered by changing the mixing ratio of the AA/NIPAM monomer mixture without tuning the processing conditions for droplet production, which is usually needed when using microfluidic devices. The proposed method can be used to obtain uniformly sized hydrogel droplets without using any instrument (e.g., microfluidic devices) or stabilizing material (e.g., surfactants) at any convenient time.

中文翻译：

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由均一大小的智能壳膜生产水凝胶液滴的通用方法

一种智能的固态液晶（LC_固态）壳膜模板，该模板通过微流控方法制备，其中掺杂了4'-戊基-4-联苯甲腈（5CB）的向列型液晶的RMM727（来自默克公司）的反应性液晶元混合物。致孔剂用于生产通用尺寸的水凝胶液滴的简便通用方法。通过将LC_固体壳浸入反应性水凝胶单体混合物中，通过壳孔将反应性水凝胶单体掺入LC_固体壳的核中。随后，将LC_固体壳外的水凝胶单体混合物替换为非反应性介质，该介质由于其相对于LC_固体的不良溶剂性质而可以封闭孔壳，在紫外线固化过程中将水凝胶单体混合物限制在核心位置。UV固化后，将含水凝胶滴的LC_固体壳放入溶剂中时，会从LC_固体壳中孵出大小均一的水凝胶滴，导致水凝胶滴比LC_固体壳溶胀得更多。水凝胶液滴从破碎的LC分离_固体使用两种不混溶的溶剂，其每一个包含水凝胶液滴和断LC壳_固体壳。基于LC_固体壳模板生成的水凝胶液滴为聚丙烯酸（PAA），聚N异丙基丙烯酰胺（PNIPAM）和P（AA- co-NIPAM），表示pH响应，温度响应和双重响应（pH和温度）。特别地，可以通过改变AA / NIPAM单体混合物的混合比而无需调节液滴生产的加工条件来容易地改变P（AA-共-NIPAM）水凝胶液滴组合物的摩尔比。微流体装置。所提出的方法可用于获得均一大小的水凝胶液滴，而无需在任何方便的时间使用任何仪器（例如微流体装置）或稳定材料（例如表面活性剂）。