Abstract
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.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 56-62 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Flow Chemistry |
Volume | 2 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 29 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- continuous materials synthesis
- fluid dynamics
- materials synthesis
- microfluidics
- monodisperse emulsions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Chemistry (miscellaneous)
- Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes
- Organic Chemistry