title: Microfluidic approach for rapid interfacial tension measurement.
abstract: A novel microfluidic approach to measure interfacial tension of immiscible fluids rapidly is reported. This method rests upon quantitative force balance analysis of drop formation dynamics in a coaxial microfluidic device. The values of interfacial tension for several two liquids without/with surfactants are measured. These measurements compare well with those measured by the commercial interfacial tensiometry. The viscosity of water phase fluid can also be accurately measured in the same microfluidic device. Several model systems with interfacial tension from 1.0 to 10.0 mN/m and water phase viscosity from 1.0 to 10.0 mPa.s are tested in this work.
authors.affiliation: The State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. xujianhong@tsinghua.edu.cn
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: S W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: G S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Luo
mesh_terms: D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D013500:Surface Tension; D013997:Time Factors; D014783:Viscosity; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D014867:Water