Microfluidics mediated production of foams for biomedical applications

Abstract

Within the last decade, there has been increasing interest in liquid and solid foams for several industrial uses. In the biomedical field, liquid foams can be used as delivery systems for dermatological treatments, for example, whereas solid foams are frequently used as scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug screening. Most of the foam functionalities are largely correlated to their mechanical properties and their structure, especially bubble/pore size, shape, and interconnectivity. However, the majority of conventional foaming fabrication techniques lack pore size control which can induce important inhomogeneities in the foams and subsequently decrease their performance. In this perspective, new advanced technologies have been introduced, such as microfluidics, which offers a highly controlled production, allowing for design customization of both liquid foams and solid foams obtained through liquid-templating. This short review explores both the fabrication and the characterization of foams, with a focus on solid polymer foams, and sheds the light on how microfluidics can overcome some existing limitations, playing a crucial role in their production for biomedical applications, especially as scaffolds in tissue engineering.