Predicting sizes of droplets made by microfluidic flow-induced dripping

Erb, Randall M.; Obrist, Dominik; Chen, Philipp W.; Studer, Julia; Studart, André R.

doi:10.1039/c1sm06231j

Cited by 67 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 20 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…27 The droplet size is determined by the interplay between the shear force of the surrounding fluid promoting droplet break-up and the interfacial tension of the fluids that keeps the droplet attached to the inlet capillary or the main fluid body. Dripping occurs when the ratio between these forces, known as the capillary number, reaches a critical value Ca crit .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designer Polymer-Based Microcapsules Made Using Microfluidics

2011

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Filled microcapsules made from double emulsion templates in microfluidic devices are attractive delivery systems for a variety of applications. The microfluidic approach allows facile tailoring of the microcapsules through a large number of variables, which in turn makes these systems more challenging to predict. To elucidate these dependencies, we start from earlier theoretical predictions for the size of double emulsions and present quantitative design maps that correlate parameters such as fluid flow rates and device geometry with the size and shell thickness of monodisperse polymer-based capsules produced in microcapillary devices. The microcapsules are obtained through in situ photopolymerization of the middle oil phase of water-in-oil-in-water double emulsions. Using polymers with selected glass transition temperatures as the shell material, we show through single capsule compression testing that hollow capsules can be prepared with tunable mechanical properties ranging from elastomeric to brittle. A quantitative statistical analysis of the load at rupture of brittle capsules is also provided to evaluate the variability of the microfluidic route and assist the design of capsules in applications involving mechanically triggered release. Finally, we demonstrate that the permeability and microstructure of the capsule shell can also be tailored through the addition of cross-linkers and silica nanoparticles in the middle phase of the double emulsion templates.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designer Polymer-Based Microcapsules Made Using Microfluidics

2011

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“…The images were used to estimate the size and uniformity of the droplets. A correction to the size of the inner water droplet diameters obtained by microscopy was applied [36].…”

Section: Microfluidic Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microfluidic preparation and self diffusion PFG-NMR analysis of monodisperse water-in-oil-in-water double emulsions

Hughes

Maan

Acquistapace

et al. 2013

Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

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“…Dimensionless numbers are frequently used in microfluidics in order to characterise the onset of drop ruptures (Erb et al 2011) and transition from dripping to jetting (Utada et al 2007). Note that the dimensionless parameters in this work have strictly been defined based on force balance equations, as presented in Eqs.…”

Section: Pure Oil-water Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Later, van der Graaf et al (2004) demonstrated the importance of dynamic interfacial tension for drops formed under shear via membrane emulsification based on surface ageing. In confined microfluidics, which is usually operated at high drop formation frequency, the dynamic interfacial tension takes on a value close to that of pure oil-water interface (Erb et al 2011). However, the effect of dynamic interfacial tension on drop formation in a buoyancy-driven system, especially at low flow rates, has remained unexplored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%