Designed pneumatic valve actuators for controlled droplet breakup and generation.
The dynamic breakup of emulsion droplets was demonstrated in double-layered microfluidic devices equipped with designed pneumatic actuators. Uniform emulsion droplets, produced by shearing at a T-junction, were broken into smaller droplets when they passed downstream through constrictions formed by a pneumatically actuated valve in the upper control layer. The valve-assisted droplet breakup was significantly affected by the shape and layout of the control valves on the emulsion flow channel. Interestingly, by actuating the pneumatic valve immediately above the T-junction, the sizes of the emulsion droplets were controlled precisely in a programmatic manner that produced arrays of uniform emulsion droplets in various sizes and dynamic patterns.
Choi
Jae-Hoon
JH
National Creative Research Initiative Center for Integrated Optofluidic Systems, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, 305-701, Republic of Korea.
Lee
Seung-Kon
SK
Lim
Jong-Min
JM
Yang
Seung-Man
SM
Yi
Gi-Ra
GR
D004655:Emulsions; D005740:Gases / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D011312:Pressure; D013997:Time Factors
D004655:Emulsions; D005740:Gases