Controllable Microdroplet Splitting via Additional Lateral Flow and its Application in Rapid Synthesis of Multi-scale Microspheres

Bingpu Zhou, Cong Wang, Xiao Xiao, Yu Sanna Hui, Yulin Cao, Weijia Wen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate that controllable microdroplet splitting could be obtained via additional lateral flow with simplicity and high controllability. The volume ratio of the two splitting products can be flexibly regulated by adjusting the flow rate ratio between the main and additional lateral flows. The splitting phenomena under different main flow rates were investigated. A volume ratio up to 200 : 1 of the two daughter droplets under a relatively higher main flow rate was experimentally achieved based on our approach. In this case, we have successfully achieved uniform daughter droplets with a smallest diameter of ∼19.5 ± 1.6 μm. With such a design, we have synthesized uniform PEGDA hydrogel microspheres with diameters ranging from ∼30 μm to over hundred of micrometers simultaneously.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)10365-10371
Number of pages7
JournalRSC Adv.
Volume5
Issue number14
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to acknowledge the support by Hong Kong RGC grant HKUST 605411 and NSFC/RGC joint grant N_HKUST601/11. The work was also partially supported by the Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Program at HKUST.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

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