This work was supported by a Research Award from the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3), the Bridging the Gap Award from the Rogers Family Foundation, the UCSF/Sandler Foundation Program for Breakthrough Biomedical Research, a grant from BASF, and the NSF through the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program (DBI-1253293).

1. SU8 Master Fabrication
<ol>
	<li>Design the microfluidic structures for two layer fabrication using AutoCAD software and have the designs printed by a vendor on circuit board film with 10 &#181;m resolution. The details of device design are given in an attached reference11 and the channel geometries are shown in Figure 1. The layers should include alignment marks to help collocate features from each fabrication layer12.</li>
	<li>Place a pre-cleaned 3 inch diameter silicon wafe...

<ol>
	<li>Van Der Graaf, S., Schro&#235;n, C. G. P. H., Boom, R. M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Preparation+of+double+emulsions+by+membrane+emulsification+-+A+review.">Preparation of double emulsions by membrane emulsification - A review.</a> J. Membrane Sci. 251 (1-2), 7-15 (2005).</li><li>Laugel, C., Baillet, A. P., Youenang Piemi, M., Marty, J., Ferrier, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Oil-water-oil+multiple+emulsions+for+prolonged+delivery+of+hydrocortisone+after+topical+application:+comparison+with+simple+emulsions.">Oil-water-oil multiple emulsions for prolonged delivery of hydrocortisone after topical application: comparison with simple emulsions.</a> Int. J. Pharm. 160 (1), 109-117 (1998).</li><li>Kim, S. H., Kim, J. W., Cho, J. C., Weitz, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Double-emulsion+drops+with+ultra-thin+shells+for+capsule+templates.">Double-emulsion drops with ultra-thin shells for capsule templates.</a> Lab Chip. 11 (18), 3162-3166 (2011).</li><li>Lim, S. W., Abate, A. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Ultrahigh-throughput+sorting+of+microfluidic+drops+with+flow+cytometry.">Ultrahigh-throughput sorting of microfluidic drops with flow cytometry.</a> Lab Chip. 13 (23), 4563-4572 (2013).</li><li>Bernath, K., Hai, M., Mastrobattista, E., Griffiths, A. D., Magdassi, S., Tawfik, D. S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=In+vitro+compartmentalization+by+double+emulsions:+sorting+and+gene+enrichment+by+fluorescence+activated+cell+sorting.">In vitro compartmentalization by double emulsions: sorting and gene enrichment by fluorescence activated cell sorting.</a> Anal. Biochem. 325 (1), 151-157 (2004).</li><li>Seemann, R., Brinkmann, M., Pfohl, T., Herminghaus, S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Droplet+based+microfluidics.">Droplet based microfluidics.</a> Rep. Prog. Phys. 75 (1), 016601 (2012).</li><li>Bauer, W. A. C., Fischlechner, M., Abell, C., Huck, W. T. S. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Hydrophilic+PDMS+microchannels+for+high-throughput+formation+of+oil-in-water+microdroplets+and+water-in-oil-in-water+double+emulsions.">Hydrophilic PDMS microchannels for high-throughput formation of oil-in-water microdroplets and water-in-oil-in-water double emulsions.</a> Lab Chip. 10 (14), 1814-1819 (2010).</li><li>Utada, A. S., Lorenceau, E., Link, D. R., Kaplan, P. D., Stone, H. A., Weitz, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Monodisperse+double+emulsions+generated+from+a+microcapillary+device.">Monodisperse double emulsions generated from a microcapillary device.</a> Science. 308 (5721), 537-541 (2005).</li><li>Chang, F. C., Su, Y. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Controlled+double+emulsification+utilizing+3D+PDMS+microchannels.">Controlled double emulsification utilizing 3D PDMS microchannels.</a> J. Micromech. Microeng. 18 (6), 065018 (2008).</li><li>Romanowsky, M. B., Abate, A. R., Rotem, A., Holtze, C., Weitz, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=High+throughput+production+of+single+core+double+emulsions+in+a+parallelized+microfluidic+device.">High throughput production of single core double emulsions in a parallelized microfluidic device.</a> Lab Chip. 12 (4), 802-807 (2012).</li><li>Tran, T. M., Cater, S., Abate, A. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Coaxial+flow+focusing+in+poly(dimethylsiloxane)+microfluidic+devices.">Coaxial flow focusing in poly(dimethylsiloxane) microfluidic devices.</a> Biomicrofluidics. 8 (1), 016502 (2014).</li><li>. Lithography Available from: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.memsnet.org/mems/processes/lithography.html">https://www.memsnet.org/mems/processes/lithography.html</a> (2015)</li><li>O'Donovan, B., Eastburn, D. J., Abate, A. R. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Electrode-free+picoinjection+of+microfluidic+drops.">Electrode-free picoinjection of microfluidic drops.</a> Lab Chip. 12 (20), 4029-4032 (2012).</li><li>Chang, F. C., Lin, H. H., Su, Y. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Controlled+W/O/W+double+emulsification+in+3-D+PDMS+micro-channels.">Controlled W/O/W double emulsification in 3-D PDMS micro-channels.</a> , 792-795 (2008).</li><li>Romanowsky, M. B., Abate, A. R., Rotem, A., Holtze, C., Weitz, D. A. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=High+throughput+production+of+single+core+double+emulsions+in+a+parallelized+microfluidic+device.">High throughput production of single core double emulsions in a parallelized microfluidic device.</a> Lab Chip. 12 (4), 802 (2012).</li></ol>

The authors have nothing to disclose.

The double emulsion generating geometry described here is designed to mimic the physics of glass capillary devices8. In these, aligned cylindrical glass capillaries are used to create a three phase coaxial jet that is sheared into uniform double emulsion droplets. The function of our 3D PDMS device is dependent on the central alignment of small features formed with 50 &#181;m tall fabrication with carrier phase channels that are 320 &#181;m in total height. There is a significant potential for to misaligning t...

Double emulsions consist of droplets separated from a carrier phase by an intermediate, immiscible fluid layer, and are of particular interest due to their potential uses in industrial, pharmaceutical, and biological applications1. In some cases, the ability to encapsulate high value compounds in a double emulsion&#39;s core enables material to be protected and released in a controlled manner. For example, drugs may be encapsulated under solubility conditions not appropriate for the external carrier fluid2. Additionally, the intermediate oil layer can be used as a capsule template for the encapsulation and delivery of drugs, cosmetics, and nutrients3. In biology, double emulsions are also useful in high throughput screening because they allow a massive number of sub-nanoliter experiments to be carried out, then detected and sorted using a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) instrument4,5.
The design of double emulsions with desired performance characteristics requires the precise control of double emulsion size, composition, and uniformity. Although bulk emulsification processes, such as membrane emulsification, are used in industry, the resulting emulsions are highly polydisperse, exhibiting a wide variety of functional properties1. The field of droplet microfluidics is naturally suited the generation of monodisperse emulsions with carefully controlled composition6. Microfluidic double emulsion generation has been achieved with two main strategies, sequential drop making and glass capillary flow focusing. Double emulsions can be generated in planar PDMS devices using a two-step drop making process. First, aqueous-in-oil emulsions are created using a water-in-oil drop-making region of a device with hydrophobic channel walls. Next, the emulsion can be flowed or reinjected into a drop-making region with hydrophilic walls suited for oil in water drop-making4. However, hydrophilic surface treatment of PMDS requires an additional fabrication step and is often temporary7. The most controllable and repeatable method to form double emulsions is by co-axial flow focusing, a technique pioneered using glass capillary microfluidics, whereby a concentric jet containing the three phases is sheared through a small orifice to produce monodisperse droplets8. This technique allows for the production of droplets much smaller than the channel dimensions, with the precise size and composition of the double emulsion being a function of the flow rates of each phase. The large difference between droplet and channel size and the protective outer sheath flow prevents droplets from contacting the channel walls, rendering surface treatment unnecessary. However, such glass devices require custom fabrication of tapered capillary tips, along with careful assembly and sealing. Previous investigators have used 3D soft lithography to generate double emulsions using flow focusing physics, but these devices produced emulsions with diameters &#62; 150 &#181;m 9,10, roughly an order of magnitude larger than objects typically sorted with FACS. An attractive alternative would include the robust functionality and small droplet generation of glass capillary coaxial flow focusing with the ease of manufacture of PDMS soft lithography.
In this paper, we describe a double emulsion generator that uses co-axial flow focusing to produce &#8804; 50 &#181;m emulsions and is constructed entirely using 3D soft lithography11. Our device uses a clamshell approach to fabricate devices that includes a small shearing channel (Figure 1) to approximate the emulsion formation processes in a pulled glass capillary nozzle. More importantly, these devices require no specific surface treatment, and the all polymer construction provides easy and repeatable fabrication scalable to a large number of duplicate devices. Here, we outline the design, fabrication, and testing of the double emulsion generator. Double emulsion generation is shown to be robust and repeatable down to droplet diameters of 14 &#181;m. The coupling of functionality with ease of fabrication makes this device an appealing option for development of new double emulsion applications.

<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="691">
	<tbody>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">Photomasks</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">CadArt Servcies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;"></td>
			<td style="width:167px;"></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:271px;">3&#34; silicon wafers, P type, virgin test grade</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">University Wafers</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">447</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">SU-8 3035</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Microchem</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Y311074</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">SU-8 2050</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Microchem</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">Y111072</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">Sylgard 184 silicone elastomer kit</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Krayden</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">4019862</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">1 ml syringes</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">BD</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">309628</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">10 ml syringes</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">BD</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">309604</td>
			<td></td>
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		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">27 gaugue needles</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">BD</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">305109</td>
			<td></td>
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		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:271px;">PE 2 polyethylene tubing</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Scientific Commodities, Inc.</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">B31695-PE/2</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">Novec 7500</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">98-0212-2928-5</td>
			<td>Commonly knowns as HFE 7500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="42">
			<td height="42" style="height:42px;width:271px;">Biocompatable surfactant</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Ran Biotechnologies</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">008-FluoroSurfactant</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">35,000 MW PEG</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">1546660</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">Tween 20</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">P1369</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr height="21">
			<td height="21" style="height:21px;width:271px;">Sodium dodecyl sulfate&#160;</td>
			<td style="width:135px;">Sigma Aldrich</td>
			<td style="width:119px;">L3771</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

double emulsion generation using a polydimethylsiloxane (pdms) co-axial flow focus device

Double emulsions are useful in a number of biological and industrial applications in which it is important to have an aqueous carrier fluid. This paper presents a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic device capable of generating water/oil/water double emulsions using a coaxial flow focusing geometry that can be fabricated entirely using soft lithography. Similar to emulsion devices using glass capillaries, double emulsions can be formed in channels with uniform wettability and with dimensions much smaller than the channel sizes. Three dimensional flow focusing geometry is achieved by casting a pair of PDMS slabs using two layer soft lithography, then mating the slabs together in a clamshell configuration. Complementary locking features molded into the PDMS slabs enable the accurate registration of features on each of the slab surfaces. Device testing demonstrates formation of double emulsions from 14 &#181;m to 50 &#181;m in diameter while using large channels that are robust against fouling and clogging.

The double emulsion generator consists of a co-axial flow focusing device created using 3D PDMS fabrication (Figure 1A). The geometry enables that formation of a three-phase co-axial jet to be sheared into a square, 50 &#181;m x 50 &#181;m orifice, allowing the formation of water / oil / water double emulsions (Figure 1B, Figure 1C). The inner aqueous phase and the middle oil phase are brought together at a junction with channel dimension...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Double Emulsion Generation Using a Polydimethylsiloxane PDMS Co-axial Flow Focus Device at JoVE.com

Double Emulsion Generation Using a Polydimethylsiloxane PDMS Co-axial Flow Focus Device

Microfluidic double emulsions generation typically involves devices with patterned wettability or custom-fabricated glass components. Here we describe the fabrication and testing of an all polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) double emulsion generator that does not require surface treatment or complicated fabrication processes, and is capable of producing double emulsions down to 14 &#181;m.

Double Emulsion Generation Using a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) Co-axial Flow Focus Device

Double emulsions are useful in a number of biological and industrial applications in which it is important to have an aqueous carrier fluid. This paper ...

double-emulsion-generation-using-polydimethylsiloxane-pdms-co-axial

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Bioengineering

15.9K Views.  University of California, San Francisco. Microfluidic double emulsions generation typically involves devices with patterned wettability or custom-fabricated glass components. Here we describe the fabrication and testing of an all polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) double emulsion generator that does not require surface treatment or complicated fabrication processes, and is capable of producing double emulsions down to 14 µm.