Centrifugal Step Emulsification: How Buoyancy Enables High Generation Rates of Monodisperse Droplets

We demonstrate that buoyancy in centrifugal step emulsification enables substantially higher generation rates of monodisperse droplets compared to pressure driven set-ups. Step emulsification in general can produce droplets in comparatively simple systems (only one moving liquid) with a low CV of <5% in droplet diameter and with a minimum dead volume. If operated below a critical capillary number, the droplet diameter is defined by geometry and surface forces only. Above that critical capillary number, however, jetting occurs, leading to an increased droplet diameter and CV. Consequently, generation rates of monodisperse droplets are limited in pressure-driven systems. In this paper, we show that centrifugal step emulsification can overcome this limitation by applying sufficient buoyancy to the system. The buoyancy, induced by the centrifugal field and a density difference of the continuous and disperse phase, supports droplet necking by pulling the forming droplet away from the nozzle. The influence of buoyancy is studied using specific microfluidic designs that allow for supplying different buoyancies to the same droplet generation rates. For a droplet diameter of 100 μm, droplet generation at rates above 2.8k droplets per second and nozzle were reached, which is an increase of more than a factor of 8 in comparison to pressure-driven systems.