https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-025-01678-w
Regular Article
Micro-pore array-integrated centrifugal microfluidic device for high-throughput droplet generation
MicroNanoSystem Laboratory (MNSL), Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Received:
20
September
2024
Accepted:
6
May
2025
Published online:
19
May
2025
Conventional microfluidic technologies can produce monodisperse droplets, but they are often limited by their reliance on specialized equipment, complex fabrication, and inadequate throughput. In this study, we present a novel centrifuge-based microfluidic device capable of high-throughput generation of monodisperse water-in-oil (W/O) droplets. The device is designed to fit inside a standard 50 mL Falcon tube and operates using conventional laboratory centrifuges, eliminating the need for pumps, tubing, or complex setups. The device's standout features include a Micro-Pore Array (MPA) with 2500 micro-pores on a 1.5 cm-diameter surface, each acting as an individual generation nozzle to significantly enhance droplet production. Additionally, a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) burst valve ensures that droplet formation occurs only at the desired centrifugal force, preventing premature generation during centrifuge acceleration. In our workflow, the aqueous phase bursts through the valve at the desired g-force and is dispersed into monodisperse droplets through the MPA. These droplets form a stable emulsion in paraffin oil, with Span 80 as the surfactant, and are collected at the bottom of the tube for further analysis. We optimized the fabrication processes for the MPA and PDMS burst valve and evaluated the effects of pore size and centrifugal force on droplet generation rate, size, and coefficient of variation. Our device successfully produced monodisperse W/O droplets ranging from 200 to 800 μm in diameter, at rates between 12,000 and over 50,000 droplets per second. These massive rates can be further increased through parallelization, offering significant potential for high-throughput applications like drug discovery and chemical synthesis.
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Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
