Microfluidic production of droplet pairs

Langmuir. 2008 Oct 21;24(20):12073-6. doi: 10.1021/la801954w. Epub 2008 Sep 27.

Abstract

We study a microfluidic dual nozzle for the production of water-in-oil droplet pairs. Droplets are paired by the hydrodynamic coupling of two nozzles over a wide range of aqueous and oil flow rates provided that they are larger than the channel dimensions. The droplet production frequencies and volumes are related to the flow rates through a single, experimentally determined power-law. The data are in good agreement with a model based on a geometrical decomposition of the dual nozzle leading to a general equation of droplet frequencies as a function of the various flow rates.