High-aspect-ratio through-hole array microfabricated in a PMMA plate for monodisperse emulsion production

Abstract

Microchannel (MC) emulsification is a promising technique for producing monodisperse emulsions consisting of highly uniform droplets. The authors developed a high-aspect-ratio microstructure (HARMST) made of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a new MC emulsification device. A PMMA straight-through MC array plate consisting of 31,250 through-holes with a 7.3 × 22.9-μm oblong section and a 200-μm depth was fabricated by a process of synchrotron radiation (SR) lithography and etching. Oblong MCs fabricated in a PMMA straight-through MC array were highly uniform with a coefficient of variation of less than 2%. The fabricated PMMA straight-through MC array plate was used to produce water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions. Monodisperse W/O emulsions with average droplet diameters of approximately 25 μm and a minimum coefficient of variation of 3.2% were produced via a hydrophobic PMMA straight-through MC array. The PMMA straight-through MC array plate also produced monodisperse W/O emulsions at droplet production rates of up to 1.7 × 104/s. The PMMA straight-through MC array plates developed in this work are expected to expand the application field of emulsification using straight-through MC array plates, which have previously been made of single-crystal silicon.