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Study of a new multi channel foam and emulsion generator
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2012
Abstract
This work describes the design and operation of two microfluidic emulsion and foam generators. The difference between the two devices consists in the geometry of the output channel - in one case, we used a straight microchannel, whereas in the second case we implemented a fractal channel output geometry. While both devices can produce highly monodisperse foams and emulsions at high throughput (coefficient of variation CV≈1.5% and production frequency of up to 2.5kHz per channel with a total of 256 micro channels capable, in theory, of operating in parallel), the actual CV at the exit of the device was significantly higher due to interactions between adjacent droplets or bubbles. Using a combination of high-viscosity continuous phase liquid and low-solubility gas phase resulted in improved monodispersity. In these conditions, the fractal output channel geometry resulted in the lowest overall CV (≈3%) at the exit of the device for both foam and emulsion production, due to an inhibition of aging and coalescence phenomena as compared to the straight channel.
Keywords
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1425: Symposium UU – Combinatorial and High-Throughput Methods in Materials Science , 2012 , mrsf11-1425-uu03-06
- Copyright
- Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012