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Microfluidics application note

How to generate droplets with a microfluidic droplet chip?

SET-UP TIME : 10-15 MIN / DIFFICULTY : *****

Real time droplet generation with flow focusing geometry of the glass microfluidic droplet generation pack.

This microfluidic droplet chip application note describes how to generate droplets by microfluidics and is realized with a glass microfluidic droplet generation pack. This note details how to generate controlled size microfluidic droplets in a glass microfluidic chip by regulating the pressure rate and/or by regulating the flow rate. Both T-junction and flow focusing geometries are used for droplet generation.

The accuracy of piezoelectric technology supporting the performance of the pressure-driven flow controller employed in this study (OB1 MkIII pressure controller) allows for an effective pressure regulation, high flow accuracy and fast ms response time.

Microfluidic droplet chip to generate monodisperse droplets

Droplet generation by microfluidic droplet chip has a large scale of applications, such as emulsion production, single cell analysis, drug delivery, polymer beads or nanoparticles synthesis. You might want to use droplets as micro bioreactors for chemical or biochemical reactions.

These are the key features to watch out for to ensure successful droplet generation:

  • Real time droplets size modification.
  • Real time modification of the generation frequency.
  • High reproducibility.
  • High monodispersity droplets.
Check out our microfluidic webinar about introduction to droplet microfluidics!

For more webinars 👉 click here

Microfluidic droplet chip setup

COMPONENTS LIST

Protocol

Using the Elveflow® smart interface to generate controlled size droplets:

Setup diagrams

The following diagrams illustrate the complete chain of elements involved in this application note. You will need to assemble all these parts to set up your experiment and generate controlled size droplets.

Why use a glass chip for droplet generation?

Glass enables to overcome some of the drawbacks of Polydimethilsiloxane (PDMS), such as its porosity and solvents adsorption. More insight into PDMS chips & Soft lithography available here.

Pressure monitoring

generate droplets_ microfluidic millifluidic droplet generation

A) Monitoring the pressure to generate controlled size droplets:

The Elveflow® smart interface allows to control pressure for oil and water samples.

One can also program sequences in order to generate droplet streams, oil plugs of controlled sized etc.

Flow rate monitoring

generate droplets_ microfluidic millifluidic droplet generation t junction

B) Monitoring the flow rate to generate controlled size droplets:

When coupled with Flow Sensors our controller enables to control the flow rate thanks to a PID feedback loop. One can request the flow values in the Elveflow® smart interface and the pressure controller will adjust the pressure consequently to reach the requested values.

To discover more tips and tricks about droplets generation and manipulation, please check our droplet Userguide!

Congratulations! You’ve achieved the generation of controlled-size droplets with glass microfluidic droplet pack using an Elveflow® Flow sensor and the Elveflow® pressure control instrument!

Want to run a similar experiment? Feel free to contact us at: contact@elveflow.com
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