Gas-assisted microfluidic step-emulsification for generating micron- and submicron-sized droplets.

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≳3b, 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 diffuse

SUBMITTER: Huang B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10330193 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature