Patent ID: 8168226

Claim:
A method comprising applying a plurality of layers of coating substances to soluble template particles by: (a) contacting the soluble template particles with a first coating substance in a fluid reaction medium in a reaction chamber which is limited on at least one side by a filtration membrane, under conditions with which a layer of the first coating substance is formed on the soluble template particles; (b) draining at least part of the reaction medium with, where appropriate, excess first coating substance present therein through the filtration membrane into a filtrate chamber; (c) contacting the soluble template particles with a second coating substance in a fluid reaction medium in a reaction chamber which is limited on at least one side by a filtration membrane, under conditions with which a layer of the second coating substance is formed on the soluble template particles; (d) draining at least part of the reaction medium with, where appropriate, excess second coating substance present therein through the filtration membrane into a filtrate chamber; and (e) optionally repeating steps (a) and (b) or steps (c) and (d) a plurality of times, wherein the first and second coating substances are oppositely charged species or mixtures of polyelectrolyte species, wherein the soluble template particles have a diameter of up to 10 μm, and wherein the method further comprises a disaggregation of the soluble template particles after the completion of step (e).