Boukellal Hakim, Selimović Seila, Jia Yanwei, Cristobal Galder, Fraden Seth
Complex Fluids Group, Martin Fisher School of Physics, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA 02454, USA.
Lab Chip. 2009 Jan 21;9(2):331-8. doi: 10.1039/b808579j. Epub 2008 Oct 28.
We describe a single microfluidic device and two methods for the passive storage of aqueous drops in a continuous stream of oil without any external control but hydrodynamic flow. Advantages of this device are that it is simple to manufacture, robust under operation, and drops never come into contact with each other, making it unnecessary to stabilize drops against coalescence. In one method the device can be used to store drops that are created upstream from the storage zone. In the second method the same device can be used to simultaneously create and store drops from a single large continuous fluid stream without resorting to the usual flow focusing or T-junction drop generation processes. Additionally, this device stores all the fluid introduced, including the first amount, with zero waste. Transport of drops in this device depends, however, on whether or not the aqueous drops wet the device walls. Analysis of drop transport in these two cases is presented. Finally, a method for extraction of the drops from the device is also presented, which works best when drops do not wet the walls of the chip.
我们描述了一种单一的微流控装置以及两种在无任何外部控制仅靠流体动力流的情况下，将水滴被动存储于连续油流中的方法。该装置的优点在于制造简单、运行时坚固耐用，且液滴彼此从不接触，无需为防止液滴聚结而进行稳定化处理。在一种方法中，该装置可用于存储在存储区上游产生的液滴。在第二种方法中，同一装置可用于从单一大型连续流体流中同时产生并存储液滴，而无需借助通常的流动聚焦或T型结液滴生成过程。此外，该装置能存储引入的所有流体，包括初始量，零浪费。然而，该装置中液滴的传输取决于水滴是否润湿装置壁。本文给出了这两种情况下液滴传输的分析。最后，还介绍了一种从装置中提取液滴的方法，当液滴不润湿芯片壁时效果最佳。
