Preparation of hundred-micron carbon spheres using solvent extraction in a simple microchannel device

Carbon microspheres with a uniform size of about 170 μm were prepared in a simple co-flow microfluidic device using solvent extraction method. An ethanol solution of colloidal silica and phenol formaldehyde (PF) resol was used as the dispersion phase, and a mixture of hexane and diisopropylamine was used as the continuous phase. The droplets of PF resol resin/silica were generated in the continuous phase.