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Centrifugal generation and manipulation of droplet emulsions

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Abstract

This work for the first time describes a centrifugal technique for the production and manipulation of highly monodisperse water droplets (CV of droplet diameter below 2%) immersed in a continuous flow of immiscible oil. Within a given working range, droplet volumes (5–22 nL) and their mutual spacing is governed by the channel geometry and the frequency of rotation. Different regimes of liquid–liquid flows are presented. We also demonstrate capabilities like droplet splitting and sedimentation as well as the production of two colored droplets, thus setting the stage for a novel centrifugal platform for multiphase flows.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the partial support by the German “Landesstiftung Baden-Württemberg gGmbH”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for MEMS Applications, Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK), University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler-Allee 106, 79110, Freiburg, Germany

    Stefan Haeberle, Roland Zengerle & Jens Ducrée

  2. HSG-IMIT—Institute for Micromachining and Information Technology, Wilhelm-Schickard-Straße 10, 78052, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany

    Roland Zengerle & Jens Ducrée

Authors
  1. Stefan Haeberle
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  2. Roland Zengerle
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  3. Jens Ducrée
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Correspondence to Stefan Haeberle.

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Haeberle, S., Zengerle, R. & Ducrée, J. Centrifugal generation and manipulation of droplet emulsions. Microfluid Nanofluid 3, 65–75 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-006-0106-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-006-0106-7

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