Large Ultrathin Shelled Drops Produced via Non‐Confined Microfluidics |
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| Authors: | Ankur S. Chaurasia Dimitris N. Josephides Dr. Shahriar Sajjadi |
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| Affiliation: | Department of Physics, King's College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2 LS (UK) |
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| Abstract: | We present a facile approach for producing large and monodisperse core–shell drops with ultrathin shells using a single‐step process. A biphasic compound jet is introduced into a quiescent third (outer) phase that ruptures to form core–shell drops. Ultrathin shelled drops could only be produced within a certain range of surfactant concentrations and flow rates, highlighting the effect of interfacial tension in engulfing the core in a thin shell. An increase in surfactant concentrations initially resulted in drops with thinner shells. However, the drops with thinnest shells were obtained at an optimum surfactant concentration, and a further increase in the surfactant concentrations increased the shell thickness. Highly monodisperse (coefficient of variation smaller than 3 %) core–shell drops with diameter of ～200 μm–2 mm with shell thickness as small as ～2 μm were produced. The resulting drops were stable enough to undergo polymerisation and produce ultrathin shelled capsules. |
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| Keywords: | colloids interfaces microfluidics millimetric droplets ultrathin shells |
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