Active droplet generation in microfluidics
Zhuang Zhi Chong,Say Hwa Tan,Alfonso M. Gañán-Calvo,Shu Beng Tor,Ngiap Hiang Loh,Nam-Trung Nguyen +5 more
TLDR
This review presents the state of the art of active droplet generation concepts, which are categorized according to the nature of the induced energy.Abstract:
The reliable generation of micron-sized droplets is an important process for various applications in droplet-based microfluidics. The generated droplets work as a self-contained reaction platform in droplet-based lab-on-a-chip systems. With the maturity of this platform technology, sophisticated and delicate control of the droplet generation process is needed to address increasingly complex applications. This review presents the state of the art of active droplet generation concepts, which are categorized according to the nature of the induced energy. At the liquid/liquid interface, an energy imbalance leads to instability and droplet breakup.read more
Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
Passive and active droplet generation with microfluidics: a review
Pingan Zhu,Liqiu Wang +1 more
TL;DR: This review of passive approaches focuses on the characteristics and mechanisms of breakup modes of droplet generation occurring in microfluidic cross-flow, co- flow, flow-focusing, and step emulsification configurations.
Journal ArticleDOI
Advances in piezoelectric thin films for acoustic biosensors, acoustofluidics and lab-on-chip applications
Yong Qing Fu,Yong Qing Fu,Jack Luo,Nam-Trung Nguyen,Anthony J. Walton,Andrew J. Flewitt,Xiaotao Zu,Yifan Li,Glen McHale,Allan Matthews,Enrique Iborra,Hejun Du,William I. Milne,William I. Milne +13 more
TL;DR: In this article, the authors acknowledge support from the Innovative electronic manufacturing research centre (IeMRC) through the EPSRC funded flagship project SMART MICROSYSTEMS.
Journal ArticleDOI
Microfluidic fabrication of microparticles for biomedical applications
Wen Li,Liyuan Zhang,Xue-Hui Ge,Xue-Hui Ge,Bi-Yi Xu,Bi-Yi Xu,Weixia Zhang,Liangliang Qu,Chang-Hyung Choi,Chang-Hyung Choi,Jianhong Xu,Afang Zhang,Hyomin Lee,Hyomin Lee,David A. Weitz +14 more
TL;DR: In this review, the materials, fabrication methods, and microparticle structures produced with droplet microfluidics are summarized and a comprehensive overview of their recent uses in biomedical applications is provided.
Journal ArticleDOI
Droplet microfluidics for microbiology: techniques, applications and challenges
TL;DR: Applications of droplet microfluidics in various fields of microbiology are presented: i) detection and identification of pathogens, ii) antibiotic susceptibility testing, iii) studies of microbial physiology and iv) biotechnological selection and improvement of strains.
Journal ArticleDOI
Polymer microfluidics: Simple, low-cost fabrication process bridging academic lab research to commercialized production
TL;DR: This article provides easy-to-understand illustrations and targets to assist the research community in selecting proper polymer microfabrication strategies in microfluidics.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
The origins and the future of microfluidics
TL;DR: The manipulation of fluids in channels with dimensions of tens of micrometres — microfluidics — has emerged as a distinct new field that has the potential to influence subject areas from chemical synthesis and biological analysis to optics and information technology.
Journal ArticleDOI
Rapid prototyping of microfluidic systems in poly(dimethylsiloxane)
TL;DR: A procedure that makes it possible to design and fabricate microfluidic systems in an elastomeric material poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) in less than 24 h by fabricating a miniaturized capillary electrophoresis system is described.
Journal ArticleDOI
Monolithic microfabricated valves and pumps by multilayer soft lithography
TL;DR: An extension to the soft lithography paradigm, multilayersoft lithography, with which devices consisting of multiple layers may be fabricated from soft materials is described, to build active microfluidic systems containing on-off valves, switching valves, and pumps entirely out of elastomer.
Journal ArticleDOI
Engineering flows in small devices
TL;DR: An overview of flows in microdevices with focus on electrokinetics, mixing and dispersion, and multiphase flows is provided, highlighting topics important for the description of the fluid dynamics: driving forces, geometry, and the chemical characteristics of surfaces.
Journal ArticleDOI
Formation of dispersions using “flow focusing” in microchannels
TL;DR: In this paper, a flow-focusing geometry is integrated into a microfluidic device and used to study drop formation in liquid-liquid systems, where both monodisperse and polydisperse emulsions can be produced.