The
monomer-rich phase (called dispersed phase) is suspended in a
solvent-rich phase (called continuous phase). The different phases
include organic and aqueous phases. When water is used as the
continuous phase, the system configuration is generally called ‘oilin-water (o/w)’ or simply ‘direct’. When a water-immiscible solvent
is used as the continuous phase, then the configuration is called
‘water-in-oil (w/o)’ or ‘inverse’ (Elbert, 2011).