Research highlights: surface-based microfluidic control

Microfluidic systems are often dominated by their surfaces because of the high surface area to volume ratios in microchannel flows or drop-based systems. Here we highlight recent work on engineering and exploiting surface effects to control the formation and motion of microdrops. We highlight work u...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Lab on a chip 2015-08, Vol.15 (15), p.317-311
Main Authors: Adeyiga, Oladunni, Kahkeshani, Soroush, Paiè, Petra, Di Carlo, Dino
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cell Culture Techniques - instrumentation
Cell Line, Tumor
Control surfaces
Drainage
Equipment Design
Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Humans
Liquids
Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation
Microfluidics
Patterning
Surface Properties
Surface Tension
Three dimensional
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Summary:Microfluidic systems are often dominated by their surfaces because of the high surface area to volume ratios in microchannel flows or drop-based systems. Here we highlight recent work on engineering and exploiting surface effects to control the formation and motion of microdrops. We highlight work using precisely microstructured wetting surfaces to repel all manner of liquids even when the liquid-air surface tension is low. In a second paper, selective capillary filling and draining is used to pattern liquid and cell-laden gels for 3D culture. A final paper making use of vapor-driven surface tension effects to drive the motion of drop ensembles is also examined, exploring a new mechanism for drop control - including motion and merging. Surface-driven motion and patterning has been a widely successful area in microfluidics ( e.g. electrowetting or patterned self-assembled monolayers) and recent work is extending into new directions that, once well-understood, should enable new applications. One microstructure to repel them all - Capillarity-guided micropatterning - Droplets chasing droplets.
ISSN:1473-0197
1473-0189
DOI:10.1039/c5lc90071a