Using Tubular Millifluidics as a Versatile Tool Box for The Generation of New Complex Architectures: Some Integrative Ch
- PDF / 430,111 Bytes
- 6 Pages / 612 x 792 pts (letter) Page_size
- 40 Downloads / 133 Views
1004-P03-02
Using Tubular Millifluidics as a Versatile Tool Box for The Generation of New Complex Architectures: Some Integrative Chemistry Synthetic Pathways Cindy HANY1, Masatoshi TACHIBANA1, Wilfried ENGL1, Pascal PANIZZA1,2, and Rénal BACKOV3 1 Rhodia/CNRS, FRE 2177, 178 Avenue A. Schweitzer, Pessac, F-33608, France 2 GMCM, UMR CNRS 6626, Campus Beaulieu, Rennes, F-35042, France 3 C.R.P.P. CNRS UPR 8641, 115, Ave. Albert Schweitzer, Pessac, F-33600, France
ABSTRACT We present a continuous flow scheme to produce hierarchically organized large emulsions and particles with very good control over size, shape and internal structure. By assembling together elementary co-axial flow modules and integrating their corresponding functions, modular set-ups can be designed "on demand" to engineer complex architectures in characteristic sizes ranging from 50 micrometers up to a few mm. The high potentiality of this approach stems from the continuous production of drops and the ability to manipulate and functionalize each one independently "on line". Its great versatility is limited only by the number of combinations possible using the modular tool box and one's imagination. We illustrate this through the encapsulation of droplets or solid particles of various shapes, composition and size, in liquid or solidified drops as well as the formation of large organic or inorganic cylindrical particles. INTRODUCTION The high potentialities of microfluidic synthesis stems from the continuous production of monodisperse droplets and the ability to manipulate and functionalize each object independently “on line” [1-3]. In contrast to conventional batch synthesis methods, this approach offers a high degree of control over size, shape and internal structure, making it a promising tool to engineer materials in characteristic sizes ranging typically from 10 µm up to 200 µm. For instance, this isthe only technique that can ensure 100% encapsulation of an active product in one step. Illustrative examples of newly fabricated materials using this method include polymer particles of various shapes [4,5], armored liquid droplets [6], core shells [7,8] and double emulsions [9,10]. Despite being a powerful and versatile tool for tailoring new materials, microfluidic synthesis has two major drawbacks since a scalable production is impossible to obtain without a very high degree of parallelization and the sizes of materials are limited 1. Other important technical limitations also restricts it emergence in most laboratories and research centers. The fabrication of microfluidic devices demands either the use of soft lithography or laser etching techniques which necessitate a considerable financial investment and “state of the art” technologies. These devices are not made up of modular elements that can easily be assembled and dissembled; so that modifying a hydrodynamic circuit on a chip requires starting over at the lithography or glass etching level. The type of dispersions that can be prepared is controlled by
the wetting of the channel walls (hy
Data Loading...
