title: Novel asymmetric through-hole array microfabricated on a silicon plate for formulating monodisperse emulsions.
abstract: We have proposed a novel microchannel (MC) structure for formulating monodisperse emulsions. The emulsification device is a silicon array of microfabricated, asymmetric through-holes with a slit and a circular channel (an asymmetric straight-through MC). The asymmetric through-holes of a uniform size stably yielded monodisperse emulsions with average droplet diameters of 35-41 mum and coefficients of variation of less than 2% by forcing the to-be-dispersed phase into the continuous phase via the through-holes. Their asymmetry enabled the stable formation of monodisperse emulsion droplets by spontaneous transformation, even using a to-be-dispersed phase with a very low viscosity below 1 mPa s. Additionally, the asymmetric straight-through MC with a high-density through-hole layout has the potential for high-throughput formulation of monodisperse emulsions.
authors.affiliation: National Food Research Institute, 2-1-12 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8642, Japan.
authors.forename: Isao
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Sukekuni
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mukataka
authors.forename: Mitsutoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D004655:Emulsions / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010316:Particle Size; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D004655:Emulsions; D012825:Silicon