Simplified Mesofluidic Systems for the Formation of Micron to Millimeter Droplets and the Synthesis of Materials

Jeremy L. Steinbacher; Yankai Lui; Brian P. Mason; William L. Olbricht; D. Tyler McQuade

doi:10.1556/jfc-d-11-00023

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Journal of Flow Chemistry

Volume/Issue:: Volume 2: Issue 2

Simplified Mesofluidic Systems for the Formation of Micron to Millimeter Droplets and the Synthesis of Materials

Authors:

Jeremy L. Steinbacher

Jeremy L. Steinbacher Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 14853 Ithaca, NY, USA

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Yankai Lui

Yankai Lui School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 14853 Ithaca, NY, USA

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Brian P. Mason

Brian P. Mason Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, 14853 Ithaca, NY, USA

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William L. Olbricht

William L. Olbricht School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 14853 Ithaca, NY, USA

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, and

D. Tyler McQuade

D. Tyler McQuade Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Florida State University, 32306 Tallahassee, FL, USA

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Pages:: 56–62

Online Publication Date:: 01 Jun 2012

Publication Date:: 01 Jun 2012

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1556/jfc-d-11-00023

Keywords:: microfluidics; monodisperse emulsions; materials synthesis; continuous materials synthesis; fluid dynamics

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We present and validate simple mesofluidic devices for producing monodisperse droplets and materials. The significance of this work is a demonstration that simple and complex droplet formulations can be prepared uniformly using off-the-shelf small-diameter tubing, barbed tubing adapters, and needles. With these simple tools, multiple droplet-forming devices and a new particle concentrator were produced and validated. We demonstrate that the droplet-forming devices could produce low-dispersity particles from 25 to 1200 Km and that these results are similar to results from more complicated devices. Through a study of the fluid dynamics and a dimensional analysis of the data, we have correlated droplet size with two dimensionless groups, capillary number and viscosity ratio. The flowfocusing device is more sensitive to both parameters than the T-junction geometry. The modular character of our mesofluidic devices allowed us to rapidly assemble compound devices that use flow-focusing and T-junction devices in series to create complex droplet-in-microcapsule materials. This work demonstrates that flow chemistry does not require complicated tools, and an inexpensive tool-kit can allow anyone with interest to enter the field.

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Journal of Flow Chemistry A Journal of the Flow Chemistry Society

Print ISSN:: 2062-249X

Online ISSN:: 2063-0212

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Journal of Flow Chemistry
Language	English
Size	A4
Year of Foundation	2011
Volumes per Year	1
Issues per Year	4
Founder	Áramlásos Kémiai Tudományos Társaság
Founder's Address	H-1031 Budapest, Hungary Záhony utca 7.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11
Responsible Publisher	Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN	2062-249X (Print)
ISSN	2063-0212 (Online)