Abstract
We report on the microfluidic induced monodispersed microdroplet generation and assembly in confined microchannels. Two and three dimensional close-packed droplet lattices were obtained in microfluidic devices by adjusting the channel geometry, the fluidic flow rates and the monodispersed droplet size. The droplet packing was mainly caused by the volumetric effect and capillarity in confined microchannels. Polymerizable fluids were also investigated to demonstrate the effect of fluidic properties on the microdroplet generation and assembly, which could find interesting applications in the future. This approach would be helpful to fundamentally understand the mechanism of self-assembly process of particles in confined microstructures, and practically be applied in sensing and energy storage devices.
Highlights
Self-assembly happens in nature with various forms induced by physical, chemical or biological forces [1,2,3]
DI water was chosen as example to investigate and obtain experimental parameters
The photocurable NIPAM aqueous solution was investigated to explore the effect of fluidic properties on the and DI water was chosen as example to investigate and obtain experimental parameters
Summary
Self-assembly happens in nature with various forms induced by physical, chemical or biological forces [1,2,3]. The self-assembled close-packed configurations of micro- and/or nano-structures possess the properties of high surface area and enhanced optoelectrical resonance, which are potentially required in gratings, micro-lens, photonic devices, displays, bioassays and sensors [22,23,24,25,26,27]. The close-packed bubble/droplet lattices have been created by controlling the volume flow ratio of the entrance air or liquid [14,21]. In these devices, the bubbles/droplets generation and assembly took place at the same time by controlling the volume flow ratio. Taking the advantages of microfluidics, the physical and chemical properties of the dispersions could be precisely controlled, which would help to deeply understand the self-assembly process
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