Enhanced-throughput production of polymersomes using a parallelized capillary microfluidic device

• DOI: 10.1007/s10404-012-1069-5
• Publication Date: 2012-10-17T15:56:35Z
• Authors: Shin-Hyun Kim; Jin Woong Kim; Do-Hoon Kim; Sang-Hoon Han; David A. Weitz
• Keywords: 660; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

We report a parallelized capillary microfluidic device for enhanced production rate of monodisperse polymersomes. This device consists of four independent capillary microfluidic devices, operated in parallel; each device produces monodisperse water-in-oil-in-water (W/O/W) double-emulsion drops through a single-step emulsification. During generation of the double-emulsion drops, the innermost water drop is formed first and it triggers a breakup of the middle oil phase over wide range of flow rates; this enables robust and stable formation of the double-emulsion drops in all drop makers of the parallelized device. Double-emulsion drops are transformed to polymersomes through a dewetting of the amphiphile-laden middle oil phase on the surface of the innermost water drop, followed by the subsequent separation of the oil drop. Therefore, we can make polymersomes with a production rate enhanced by a factor given by the number of drop makers in the parallelized device.