Wetting - induced formation of controllable monodisperse multiple emulsions in microfluidics 3

Wetting-induced formation of controllable monodisperse multiple emulsions in microfluidics.

Multiple emulsions, which are widely applied in a myriad of fields because of their unique ability to encapsulate and protect active ingredients, are typically produced by sequential drop-formations and drop-encapsulations using shear-induced emulsification. Here we report a qualitatively novel method of creating highly controlled multiple emulsions from lower-order emulsions. By carefully cont...

One-step formation of multiple emulsions in microfluidics.

We present a robust way to create multiple emulsions with controllable shell thicknesses that can vary over a wide range. We use a microfluidic device to create a coaxial jet of immiscible fluids; using a dripping instability, we break the jet into multiple emulsions. By controlling the thickness of each layer of the jet, we adjust the thicknesses of the shells of the multiple emulsions. The sa...

High-order multiple emulsions formed in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidics.

Multiple emulsions are nested sets of drops. Drops of one kind of fluid are encapsulated inside drops of a second fluid, which themselves can be encapsulated inside drops of yet another fluid. Such ‘‘emulsions within emulsions’’ are very useful for many applications, including for the encapsulation of actives, such as nutrients, pesticides, drugs, and detergents, and as templates for the synthe...

Controllable monodisperse multiple emulsions.

Drop formation in non-planar microfluidic devices.

Microfluidic devices can be used to produce single or multiple emulsions with remarkably precise control of both the contents and size of the drops. Since each level of a multiple emulsion is formed by a distinct fluid stream, very efficient encapsulation of materials can be achieved. To obtain high throughput, these devices can be fabricated lithographically, allowing many devices to operate i...