High-throughput generation of uniform droplets from parallel microchannel droplet generators and the preparation of polystyrene microsphere material

Abstract

To prepare uniform polystyrene particles with ten microns of diameter, a parallel scaling-up strategy for the capillary-assembled stepwise microchannel was developed, which created uniform droplets with high-throughput and formed a large amount of emulsion templates for the polymerization of styrene and cross-linker. The microchannel droplet generator was robust for the flow rate deviation of the continuous phase in the jetting flow, and droplet generation frequency up to 2.8 × 104 Hz was achieved with only four parallel droplet generators, which were much more efficient than the parallelly scaled microfluidic devices working in dripping flow. 32–52 μm average diameter droplets with 4.5%–8.4% diameter variation coefficients were successfully prepared from the microchannel device fabricated by low-cost 3D-print method, and the droplets were subsequently turned to solid particles via a two-step polymerization in the platform. The polystyrene particles were further reduced to 16.9–23.5 μm with 5.0%–8.6% diameter variation coefficients due to the accompanying emulsion polymerization, and the working capacity of the platform reached hundred milligrams of particles per hour.