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Eggersdorfer ML, Zheng W, Nawar S, Mercandetti C, Ofner A, Leibacher I, Koehler S, Weitz DA. Tandem emulsification for high-throughput production of double emulsions. Lab Chip 2017; 17:936-942. [PMID: 28197593 DOI: 10.1039/c6lc01553k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Core-shell double emulsions produced using microfluidic methods with controlled structural parameters exhibit great potential in a wide range of applications, but the low production rate of microfluidic methods hinders the exploitation of the capabilities of microfluidics to produce double emulsions with well-defined features. A major obstacle towards the scaled-up production of core-shell double emulsions is the difficulty of achieving robust spatially controlled wettability in integrated microfluidic devices. Here, we use tandem emulsification, a two-step process with microfluidic devices, to scale up the production. With this method, single emulsions are generated in a first device and are re-injected directly into a second device to form uniform double emulsions. We demonstrate the application of tandem emulsification for scalable core-shell emulsion production with both integrated flow focusing and millipede devices and obtain emulsions of which over 90% are single-core monodisperse double emulsion drops. With both mechanisms, the shell thickness can be controlled, so that shells as thin as 3 μm are obtained for emulsions 50 μm in radius.
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Affiliation(s)
- M L Eggersdorfer
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - W Zheng
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
| | - S Nawar
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - C Mercandetti
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - A Ofner
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - I Leibacher
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - S Koehler
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
| | - D A Weitz
- School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. and Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
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