Work

Scaling up the throughput of microfluidic droplet-based materials synthesis: A review of recent progress and outlook

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: The last two decades have witnessed tremendous progress in the development of microfluidic chips that generate micrometer- and nanometer-scale materials. These chips allow precise control over composition, structure, and particle uniformity not achievable using conventional methods. These microfluidic-generated materials have demonstrated enormous potential for applications in medicine, agriculture, food processing, acoustic, and optical meta-materials, and more. However, because the basis of these chips' performance is their precise control of fluid flows at the micrometer scale, their operation is limited to the inherently low throughputs dictated by the physics of multiphasic flows in micro-channels. This limitation on throughput results in material production rates that are too low for most practical applications. In recent years, however, significant progress has been made to tackle this challenge by designing microchip architectures that incorporate multiple microfluidic devices onto single chips. These devices can be operated in parallel to increase throughput while retaining the benefits of microfluidic particle generation. In this review, we will highlight recent work in this area and share our perspective on the key unsolved challenges and opportunities in this field.

Source: Applied Physics Reviews

DOI: 10.1063/5.0049897

Authors: Jingyu Wu, Sagar Yadavali, Daeyeon Lee, David A. Issadore

Institution: University of Pennsylvania

Language: English

Topic: Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation

Subfield: Biomedical Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institute of Mental Health, National Human Genome Research Institute

Awards: G135824576, G8471076656