485f Multiphase Microfluidic Systems for Creating Structured Materials

Axel Guenther, Dept. of Mechanical and Ind. Engineering, Inst. of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, 5, King's College Road, MC314B, Toronto, ON M4V 5G8, Canada and Lian Leng, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Toronto, 5, King's College Road, MC314B, Toronto, ON M4V 5G8, Canada.

Microscale segmented flows have been extensively used either by taking advantage of their favorable transport properties, i.e. enhanced mixing and reduced axial dispersion [1-5], or by creating and retaining unique fluid phase distributions. Examples of the latter are the formation of monodisperse particles and foams.

In this talk, we introduce a new strategy that is aimed at assembling structured materials from segmented flow in a massively scaled microfluidic architecture. Manipulating the communication between neighboring flow channels allows the formation of complex fluids (and solids) with either an irregular or the emergence of a regular microstructure. We will particularly focus on tailoring bulk materials with non-isotropic bulk properties.

References:

[1] Kreutzer M.T., Guenther A., Jensen K.F., Anal. Chem. 80 (5), 1558-1567, 2008.

[2] Muradoglu M., Guenther A., Stone H.A., Phys. Fluids 19 (7), 072109, 2007

[3] Guenther, A., Jensen, K.F., Lab Chip, 6, 1487-1503, 2006.

[4] Guenther, A., Jhunjhunwala, M., Thalmann, M., Schmidt, M.A., and Jensen, K.F., Langmuir, 21 (4), 1547-1555, 2005.

[5] Yen, B.K.H., Guenther, A., Schmidt, M.A., Jensen, K.F., Bawendi, M.G., Angewandte Chemie, Int. Ed., 44 (34), 2005.

Web Page: www.mie.utoronto.ca/faculty/guenther/