Microfluidic induced controllable microdroplets assembly in confined channels

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.