Microfluidic Methods for Fabrication and Engineering of Nanoparticle Drug Delivery Systems

Abstract

Microfluidic technologies with precise fluid control and rapid microscale mixing have attracted widespread interest in the fabrication and engineering of nanomaterials for drug delivery. The drug-loaded nanomaterials prepared by microfluidic methods can exhibit better monodispersity, higher drug encapsulation efficiency, and prolonged blood circulation time as compared to those by conventional bench methods. In this review, we summarize recent advances in microfluidic fabrication of a variety of nanomaterials, including organic, inorganic, and hybrid nanoparticles, as drug delivery systems. We discuss the microfluidic control of the physicochemical properties of these nanomaterials, such as size, shape, structure, rigidity, and surface modification, which can affect their therapeutic efficacy to some extent. Furthermore, a perspective of microfluidic fabrication of nanomaterials for targeted drug delivery is presented.