1
|
Aslan Y, McGleish O, Reboud J, Cooper JM. Alignment-free construction of double emulsion droplet generation devices incorporating surface wettability contrast. LAB ON A CHIP 2023; 23:5173-5179. [PMID: 37966340 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc00584d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Although polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a versatile and easy-to-use material for microfluidics, its inherent hydrophobicity often necessitates specific hydrophilic treatment to fabricate microchip architectures for generating double emulsions. These additional processing steps frequently lead to increased complexity, potentially creating barriers to the wider use of promising microfluidic techniques. Here we describe an alignment-free spatial hydrophilic PDMS patterning technique to produce devices for the creation of double emulsions using combinations of PDMS and PDMS/surfactant bilayers. The technique enables us to achieve selective patterning and alignment-free bonding, producing reliable and reproducible water-in-oil-in-water W/O/W droplet emulsions. Our method involves processing devices in a vertical orientation, with the wetting transition contrast being achieved simply by imaging whilst adjusting the PDMS pouring speed (using a mobile phone, for example). We successfully obtain hydrophilic surfaces without distinguishable hydrophobic recovery using a range of surfactant concentrations. Droplet emulsions were produced with low coefficients of variation aligned with those generated with other, more complex, techniques (e.g. 3.8% and 3.1% for the inner and outer diameters, respectively). As a further example, the methods were also demonstrated for liposome production. In future we anticipate that the technique may be applied to other fields, including e.g. reagent delivery, DNA amplification, and encapsulated cell studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yunus Aslan
- Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
| | - Olivia McGleish
- Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
| | - Julien Reboud
- Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
| | - Jonathan M Cooper
- Division of Biomedical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8LT, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Zhang L, Li W, Wei L, Zhao Y, Qiu Y, Liu H, Huang C, Huang J. Optimizing the Production of Hydrogel Microspheres Using Microfluidic Chips: The Influence of Surface Treatment on Droplet Formation Mechanism. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2023; 39:13932-13945. [PMID: 37722128 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.3c01478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
Microfluidic chips have been widely applied in biology and medical research for stably generating uniform droplets that can be solidified into hydrogel microspheres. However, issues such as low microsphere yield, lengthy experimental processes, and susceptibility to environmental interference need to be addressed. In this work, a simple and effective method was developed to modify microfluidic chips at room temperature to improve the production performance of hydrogel microspheres. Numerical simulation-assisted experiments were conducted to comprehensively understand the effect of solution viscosity, hydrophilicity, and flow rate ratio on droplet formation during microsphere production. Chitosan was selected as the main component and combined with poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate to prepare photocurable hydrogel microspheres as a demonstration. As a result, grafting fluoro-silane (FOTS) increased the contact angle of the channel from 90 to approximately 110°, which led to a 12.2% increase in droplet yield. Additionally, FOTS-modification attenuated the impact of the flow rate ratio on droplet yield by 19.1%. Alternatively, depositing dopamine decreased the channel's contact angle from 90 to 60°, resulting in a 21.4% increase in particle size and enabling the chip to adjust droplet size over a wider range. Further study demonstrates that the obtained hydrogel microspheres can be modified with layers of aldehyde, which can potentially be used for controlled drug release. Overall, this study proposed a facile method for adjusting the yield and droplet size through surface treatment of microfluidic chips while also enhancing the understanding of the synergistic effects of multiple factors in microfluidics-based microsphere production.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Limin Zhang
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| | - Weitao Li
- Research Institute Exploration and Development, Shengli Oilfield Company, SINOPEC, Dongying, Shandong Province 257015, China
| | - Luxing Wei
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| | - Yiming Zhao
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| | - Yinghua Qiu
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| | - Hanlian Liu
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| | - Chuanzhen Huang
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China
| | - Jun Huang
- Center for Advanced Jet Engineering Technologies (CaJET), Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 25006, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Zhao Y, Zhao K, Yu Z, Ye C. Chameleon-Inspired Mechanochromic Photonic Elastomer with Brilliant Structural Color and Stable Optical Response for Human Motion Visualization. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:2635. [PMID: 37376281 DOI: 10.3390/polym15122635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Revised: 05/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/07/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Flexible and stretchable electronic devices are indispensable parts of wearable devices. However, these electronics employ electrical transducing modes and lack the ability to visually respond to external stimuli, restricting their versatile application in the visualized human-machine interaction. Inspired by the color variation of chameleons' skin, we developed a series of novel mechanochromic photonic elastomers (PEs) with brilliant structural colors and a stable optical response. Typically, these PEs with a sandwich structure were prepared by embedding PS@SiO2 photonic crystals (PCs)within the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomer. Benefiting from this structure, these PEs exhibit not only bright structural colors, but also superior structural integrity. Notably, they possess excellent mechanochromism through lattice spacing regulation, and their optical responses are stably maintained even when suffering from 100 stretching-releasing cycles, showing superior stability and reliability and excellent durability. Moreover, a variety of patterned PEs were successfully obtained through a facile mask method, which provides great inspiration to create intelligent patterns and displays. Based on these merits, such PEs can be utilized as visualized wearable devices for detecting various human joint movements in real time. This work offers a new strategy for realizing visualized interactions based on PEs, showing huge application prospects in photonic skins, soft robotics, and human-machine interactions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yanbo Zhao
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
| | - Kai Zhao
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
| | - Zhumin Yu
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
| | - Changqing Ye
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
| |
Collapse
|