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Article: Self-synchronization of reinjected droplets for high-efficiency droplet pairing and merging

TitleSelf-synchronization of reinjected droplets for high-efficiency droplet pairing and merging
Authors
Issue Date1-Dec-2023
PublisherSpringer Nature
Citation
Microsystems & Nanoengineering, 2023, v. 9, n. 1 How to Cite?
Abstract

Droplet merging serves as a powerful tool to add reagents to moving droplets for biological and chemical reactions. However, unsynchronized droplet pairing impedes high-efficiency merging. Here, we develop a microfluidic design for the self-synchronization of reinjected droplets. A periodic increase in the hydrodynamic resistance caused by droplet blocking a T-junction enables automatic pairing of droplets. After inducing spacing, the paired droplets merge downstream under an electric field. The blockage-based design can achieve a 100% synchronization efficiency even when the mismatch rate of droplet frequencies reaches 10%. Over 98% of the droplets can still be synchronized at nonuniform droplet sizes and fluctuating reinjection flow rates. Moreover, the droplet pairing ratio can be adjusted flexibly for on-demand sample addition. Using this system, we merge two groups of droplets encapsulating enzyme/substrate, demonstrating its capacity to conduct multi-step reactions. We also combine droplet sorting and merging to coencapsulate single cells and single beads, providing a basis for high-efficiency single-cell sequencing. We expect that this system can be integrated with other droplet manipulation systems for a broad range of chemical and biological applications.


Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/337494
ISSN
ISI Accession Number ID

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorNan, L-
dc.contributor.authorMao, T-
dc.contributor.authorShum, HC-
dc.date.accessioned2024-03-11T10:21:19Z-
dc.date.available2024-03-11T10:21:19Z-
dc.date.issued2023-12-01-
dc.identifier.citationMicrosystems & Nanoengineering, 2023, v. 9, n. 1-
dc.identifier.issn2096-1030-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/337494-
dc.description.abstract<p>Droplet merging serves as a powerful tool to add reagents to moving droplets for biological and chemical reactions. However, unsynchronized droplet pairing impedes high-efficiency merging. Here, we develop a microfluidic design for the self-synchronization of reinjected droplets. A periodic increase in the hydrodynamic resistance caused by droplet blocking a T-junction enables automatic pairing of droplets. After inducing spacing, the paired droplets merge downstream under an electric field. The blockage-based design can achieve a 100% synchronization efficiency even when the mismatch rate of droplet frequencies reaches 10%. Over 98% of the droplets can still be synchronized at nonuniform droplet sizes and fluctuating reinjection flow rates. Moreover, the droplet pairing ratio can be adjusted flexibly for on-demand sample addition. Using this system, we merge two groups of droplets encapsulating enzyme/substrate, demonstrating its capacity to conduct multi-step reactions. We also combine droplet sorting and merging to coencapsulate single cells and single beads, providing a basis for high-efficiency single-cell sequencing. We expect that this system can be integrated with other droplet manipulation systems for a broad range of chemical and biological applications.</p>-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherSpringer Nature-
dc.relation.ispartofMicrosystems & Nanoengineering-
dc.rightsThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.-
dc.titleSelf-synchronization of reinjected droplets for high-efficiency droplet pairing and merging-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41378-023-00502-6-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85150175113-
dc.identifier.volume9-
dc.identifier.issue1-
dc.identifier.eissn2055-7434-
dc.identifier.isiWOS:000945811700001-
dc.identifier.issnl2055-7434-

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