High-throughput microfluidic production of carbon capture microcapsules: fundamentals, applications, and perspectives

In the last three decades, carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions have shown a significant increase from various sources. To address this pressing issue, the importance of reducing CO₂ emissions has grown, leading to increased attention toward carbon capture, utilization, and storage strategies. Among these strategies, monodisperse microcapsules, produced by using droplet microfluidics, have emerged as promising tools for carbon capture, offering a potential solution to mitigate CO₂ emissions. However, the limited yield of microcapsules due to the inherent low flow rate in droplet microfluidics remains a challenge. In this comprehensive review, the high-throughput production of carbon capture microcapsules using droplet microfluidics is focused on. Specifically, the detailed insights into microfluidic chip fabrication technologies, the microfluidic generation of emulsion droplets, along with the associated hydrodynamic considerations, and the generation of carbon capture microcapsules through droplet microfluidics are provided. This review highlights the substantial potential of droplet microfluidics as a promising technique for large-scale carbon capture microcapsule production, which could play a significant role in achieving carbon neutralization and emission reduction goals.