Abstract
The formation of emulsification droplets is crucial for many industrial applications. This paper reports a new microfluidic chip capable of formation and collection of micro-droplets in liquids for emulsion applications. This microfluidic chip comprising microchannels, a micro-chopper and a micro-switch was fabricated by using micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology. The microfluidic chip can generate uniform droplets with tunable sizes by using combination of flow-focusing and liquid-chopping techniques. The droplet size can be actively fine-tuned by controlling either the relative sheath/sample flow velocity ratios or the chopping frequency. The generated droplets can be then sorted to a specific collection area utilizing an active pneumatic micro-switch formed with three micro-valves. Experimental data showed that the olive oil and sodium-alginate (Na-alginate) droplets with diameters ranging from 3 μm to 70 μm with a variation less than 14% is successfully generated and collected. The development of this microfluidic system can be promising for emulsion, drug delivery and nano-medicine applications.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 749-756 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Biomedical Microdevices |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Chopper
- Emulsification
- Emulsion
- MEMS
- Micro-switch
- Microfluidics