Recently, synthesis of polymer particles in continuous microfluidic reactors allowed excellent control over microbead size, shape and morphology. Precise control of polymerization reactions in time and in a specific location of the microfluidic reactor has not been reported, yet.

We report continuous and scalable microfluidic synthesis of hybrid polymer particles, that is based on microfluidic emulsification of a mixture of monomers and highly controlled consecutive polymerization of these monomers. The first polymerization reaction is initiated by UV-irradiation, the second reaction is triggered by applying heat to the monomer droplets. The resulting method produces polymer particles with narrow excellent size distribution and controlled internal structure.