| A 'microfluidic pinball' for on-chip generation of Layer-by-Layer polyelectrolyte microcapsules. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 21218225 Owner: NLM Status: Publisher |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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Inspired by the game of "pinball" where rolling metal balls are guided by obstacles, here we describe a novel microfluidic technique which utilizes micropillars in a flow channel to continuously generate, encapsulate and guide Layer-by-Layer (LbL) polyelectrolyte microcapsules. Droplet-based microfluidic techniques were exploited to generate oil droplets which were smoothly guided along a row of micropillars to repeatedly travel through three parallel laminar streams consisting of two polymers and a washing solution. Devices were prototyped in PDMS and generated highly monodisperse and stable 45 ± 2 µm sized polyelectrolyte microcapsules. A total of six layers of hydrogen bonded polyelectrolytes (3 bi-layers) were adsorbed on each droplet within <3 minutes and a fluorescent intensity measurement confirmed polymer film deposition. AFM analysis revealed the thickness of each polymer layer to be approx. 2.8 nm. Our design approach not only provides a faster and more efficient alternative to conventional LbL deposition techniques, but also achieves the highest number of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) reported thus far using microfluidics. Additionally, with our design, a larger number of PEMs can be deposited without adding any extra operational or interfacial complexities (e.g. syringe pumps) which are a necessity in most other designs. Based on the aforementioned advantages of our device, it may be developed into a great tool for drug encapsulation, or to create capsules for biosensing where deposition of thin nanofilms with controlled interfacial properties is highly required. |
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Authors:
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Chaitanya Kantak; Sebastian Beyer; Levent Yobas; Tushar Bansal; Dieter Trau |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: JOURNAL ARTICLE Date: 2011-1-7 |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Lab on a chip Volume: - ISSN: 1473-0197 ISO Abbreviation: - Publication Date: 2011 Jan |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2011-1-10 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 101128948 Medline TA: Lab Chip Country: - |
Other Details:
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Languages: ENG Pagination: - Citation Subset: - |
Affiliation:
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Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 11 Science Park Road, Science Park II, 117685, Singapore. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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