Bibliographic Details
| Title: |
Gas-assisted microfluidic step-emulsification for generating micron- and submicron-sized droplets |
| Authors: |
Biao Huang, Xinjin Ge, Boris Y. Rubinstein, Xianchun Chen, Lu Wang, Huiying Xie, Alexander M. Leshansky, Zhenzhen Li |
| Source: |
Microsystems & Nanoengineering, Vol 9, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2023) |
| Publisher Information: |
Nature Publishing Group, 2023. |
| Publication Year: |
2023 |
| Collection: |
LCC:Technology
LCC:Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General) |
| Subject Terms: |
Technology, Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General), TA1-2040 |
| More Details: |
Abstract Micron- and submicron-sized droplets have extensive applications in biomedical diagnosis and drug delivery. Moreover, accurate high-throughput analysis requires a uniform droplet size distribution and high production rates. Although the previously reported microfluidic coflow step-emulsification method can be used to generate highly monodispersed droplets, the droplet diameter (d) is constrained by the microchannel height (b), $$d\gtrsim 3b$$ d ≳ 3 b , while the production rate is limited by the maximum capillary number of the step-emulsification regime, impeding emulsification of highly viscous liquids. In this paper, we report a novel, gas-assisted coflow step-emulsification method, where air serves as the innermost phase of a precursor hollow-core air/oil/water emulsion. Air gradually diffuses out, producing oil droplets. The size of the hollow-core droplets and the ultrathin oil layer thickness both follow the scaling laws of triphasic step-emulsification. The minimal droplet size attains $$d\approx 1.7b$$ d ≈ 1.7 b , inaccessible in standard all-liquid biphasic step-emulsification. The production rate per single channel is an order-of-magnitude higher than that in the standard all-liquid biphasic step-emulsification and is also superior to alternative emulsification methods. Due to low gas viscosity, the method can also be used to generate micron- and submicron-sized droplets of high-viscosity fluids, while the inert nature of the auxiliary gas offers high versatility. |
| Document Type: |
article |
| File Description: |
electronic resource |
| Language: |
English |
| ISSN: |
2055-7434 |
| Relation: |
https://doaj.org/toc/2055-7434 |
| DOI: |
10.1038/s41378-023-00558-4 |
| Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/38c5ef71d6fd4bf3a4a5c67c0ba77724 |
| Accession Number: |
edsdoj.38c5ef71d6fd4bf3a4a5c67c0ba77724 |
| Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |
