Monodisperse w/w/w double emulsion induced by phase separation

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Chemical Engineering
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Fabricating complex water-in-water-in-water (w/w/w) emulsions presents challenges in achieving size uniformity and stability.
• Traditional emulsion methods often rely on organic solvents, limiting their use in biological applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel microfluidic approach for producing monodisperse w/w/w double emulsions.
• To create a solvent-free emulsion system suitable for biological and materials science applications.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing microfluidic devices to generate a jet of aqueous solution containing dextran and polyethylene glycol (PEG).
• Periodically perturbing the jet into water-in-water (w/w) droplets, followed by water extraction to induce phase separation.
• Inducing phase separation by exceeding the miscibility limit, leading to PEG-rich droplets within single emulsion templates.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated monodisperse w/w/w double emulsions with high size uniformity.
• Demonstrated a solvent-free method for creating complex aqueous emulsions.
• The resulting w/w/w emulsions are transiently stable and free of organic solvents.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic approach offers precise control over w/w/w double emulsion fabrication.
• These solvent-free w/w/w emulsions are versatile for applications such as droplet-vessels in protein purification, microreactors, and biomaterial templates.
• This method advances the creation of advanced aqueous multiphase systems for various scientific disciplines.