Geometrically Mediated Breakup of Drops in Microfluidic Devices

作者：Darren R. Link, Shelley L. Anna, David A. Weitz, Howard A. Stone · 发表于：Physical Review Letters · 年份：2004 · DOI：10.1103/physrevlett.92.054503 · 被引用次数：1198 · 研究领域：Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation、Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications、Electrowetting and Microfluidic Technologies

Microfluidic technology offers capabilities for the precise handling of small fluid volumes dispersed as droplets. To fully exploit this potential requires simultaneous generation of multiple size droplets. We demonstrate two methods for passively breaking larger drops into precisely controlled daughter drops using pressure-driven flow in simple microfluidic configurations: (i) a T junction and (ii) flow past isolated obstacles. We quantify conditions for breakup at a T junction and illustrate sequential breakup at T junctions for making small drops at high dispersed phase volume fractions.