Abstract: Polymer microcapsules are a kind of new functional polymer materials which are widely applied in the fields of chemistry， material science and biomedical science， etc. The surface morphology， diame? ter distribution， core content and mechanical strength of the polymer microcapsules are the key fac? tors of the success of application of polymer microcapsules. The characterization of morphological structure and properties of polymer microcapsules with classical and modern instrumental methods has been re?viewed. The characteristic and application of these methods have also been pointed out. The advantagesand limitations of all methods are compared

Key words: polymer microcapsule, structure and property, characterization