In this article we investigate the morphology and manipulation of monodisperse emulsions at high dispersed phase volume fractions (gel emulsions) in a microfluidic environment. Confined monodisperse gel emulsions self-organize into well-ordered droplet arrangements, which may be stable or metastable, depending on the geometry of the confining microchannel. Three arrangements are considered, in which the droplets are aligned in a single file, a two row, or a three row arrangement. We explore the potential for induced transitions between these distinct droplet arrangements as a tool for droplet-based microfluidic processing. Transitions are readily achieved by means of localized (geometrical) features in channel geometry, however the onset of the transition is strongly dependent on the subtleties of the microfluidic system, e.g. volume fraction, droplet size, and feature dimensions. The transitions can be achieved via fixed channel features or, when the continuous phase is a ferrofluid, by a virtual channel constriction created using a magnetic field.
The protein fibrin plays a principal role in blood clotting and forms robust three dimensional networks. Here, microfluidic devices have been tailored to strategically generate and study these bionetworks by confinement in nanoliter volumes. The required protein components are initially encapsulated in separate droplets, which are subsequently merged by electrocoalescence. Next, distinct droplet microenvironments are created as the merged droplets experience one of two conditions: either they traverse a microfluidic pathway continuously, or they "park" to fully evolve an isotropic network before experiencing controlled deformations. High resolution fluorescence microscopy is used to image the fibrin networks in the microchannels. Aggregation (i.e."clotting") is significantly affected by the complicated flow fields in moving droplets. In stopped-flow conditions, an isotropic droplet-spanning network forms after a suitable ripening time. Subsequent network deformation, induced by the geometric structure of the microfluidic channel, is found to be elastic at low rates of deformation. A shape transition is identified for droplets experiencing rates of deformation higher than an identified threshold value. In this condition, significant densification of protein within the droplet due to hydrodynamic forces is observed. These results demonstrate that flow fields considerably affect fibrin in different circumstances exquisitely controlled using microfluidic tools.
Microfluidic manipulation of densely packed droplet arrangements (i.e., gel emulsions) using sharp microchannel bends was studied as a function of bend angle, droplet volume fraction, droplet size, and flow velocity. Emulsion reorganization was found to be specifically dependent on the pathlength that the droplets are forced to travel as they navigate the bend under spatial confinement. We describe how bend-induced droplet displacements might be exploited in complex, droplet-based microfluidics.
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