The generation of highly monodisperse droplets through the breakup of hydrodynamically focused microthread in a microfluidic device

Abstract

We used a controllable three-stream laminar flow system to hydrodynamically focus a viscous stream, flowing between two inviscid streams, to cause instability and eventual breakup. The characteristics of the focusing and breakup of the viscous stream are presented here. Breakup occurred as the viscous stream was focused to a characteristic width of several micrometers. Highly monodisperse droplets with diameters smaller than the width of the junction of the three inlet channels were formed through the rapid periodic breakup of the focused microthread. Size, production rate, and patterning can be precisely controlled with this approach.