| 초록 |
Droplet-based microfluidics has found outstanding application in many disciplines, some of which include pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. The generation of water-in-oil (W/O), oil-in water (O/W) droplets, and microgels are essential in these applications, which have mostly been achieved using devices fabricated using photolithography. However, this procedure is time-consuming, requires high expertise, and suffers from other drawbacks. In this study, we employed a 3D printer, based on stereolithography technique in fabricating molds for W/O droplets and UV curable microgels generation. Unlike photolithography and other fabrication technique, our design consists of complex multi-heights flow-focusing generators (8-FFG) and delivery channels that were easily produced. More so, we have also combined simulation approach using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for flow distribution and experimental analysis. Using the 3D printing technique, we report for the first time a facile method in the production of complex microfluidics molds with the aim of increasing emulsion droplets rate from laboratory to industrial scale. |
