Microfluidic generation of multifunctional quantum dot barcode particles.

We develop a new strategy to prepare quantum dot (QD) barcode particles by polymerizing double-emulsion droplets prepared in capillary microfluidic devices. The resultant barcode particles are composed of stable QD-tagged core particles surrounded by hydrogel shells. These particles exhibit uniform spectral characteristics and excellent coding capability, as confirmed by photoluminescence analyses. By using double-emulsion droplets with two inner droplets of distinct phases as templates, we have also fabricated anisotropic magnetic barcode particles with two separate cores or with a Janus core. These particles enable optical encoding and magnetic separation, thus making them excellent functional barcode particles in biomedical applications.