Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
Soft Matter. 2017 Mar 1;13(9):1920-1928. doi: 10.1039/c6sm02674e.
The study of how soft particles deform to pass through narrow openings is important for understanding the transit of biological cells, as well as for designing deformable drug delivery carriers. In this work, we systematically explore how soft microparticles with various internal architectures deform during passage through microfluidic constrictions. We synthesize hydrogel particles with well-defined internal structure using lithography-based UV polymerization in microfluidic channels (stop-flow lithography). Using this in situ technique, we explore a range of 2D particle architectures and their effect on particle deformation. We observe that particles undergo buckling of internal supports and reorient at the constriction entrance in order to adopt preferred shapes that correspond to minimum energy configurations. Using finite element simulations of elastic deformation under compression, we accurately predict the optimal deformation configuration of these structured particles.
研究软颗粒如何变形以通过狭窄的开口对于理解生物细胞的迁移以及设计可变形的药物输送载体非常重要。在这项工作中，我们系统地研究了具有各种内部结构的软微球在通过微流控收缩时如何变形。我们使用基于光刻的微流道中的 UV 聚合（停流光刻）合成具有明确定义内部结构的水凝胶颗粒。使用这种原位技术，我们探索了一系列 2D 颗粒结构及其对颗粒变形的影响。我们观察到颗粒内部支撑物发生弯曲，并在收缩入口处重新定向，以采用与最小能量配置相对应的优选形状。通过对压缩下弹性变形的有限元模拟，我们准确地预测了这些结构化颗粒的最佳变形配置。
