Porous polymer particles—A comprehensive guide to synthesis, characterization, functionalization and applications

This review is written to fulfill the need of a comprehensive guide for the manufacture of porous polymer particles. The synthesis section discusses and for the first time compares microfluidics, membrane/microchannel, suspension, dispersion, precipitation, multistage polymerizations and a few other less known methods, microfluidics being in greater detail. The comparison includes on one hand simplicity, scaling-up possibilities and the ability to yield nonspherical particles for these methods and on the other hand size, size monodispersity, pore characteristics and chemical functionality of the obtained particles. This extensive comparison certainly makes this review also useful for the preparation of nonporous particles. In addition, functionalization/characterization techniques and applications of porous particles are also discussed, including some visionary recommendations. The review is expected not only to enable individual experts of each field to compare their methods with the other ones, but also to be a handbook for the newcomers to this field to guide them from the synthesis to the applications.