Self-organizing microfluidic crystals
Name
Doyle_Self-organizing.pdf
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3.65 MB
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88aaf7100791135e22c3ad06efbe7640
Author(s)
Uspal, William Eric
Doyle, Patrick S
Date Issued
May 2014
Journal
Soft Matter
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
Citation
Uspal, William E., and Patrick S. Doyle. “Self-Organizing Microfluidic Crystals.” Soft Matter 10, no. 28 (2014): 5177–5191.
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
We consider how to design a microfluidic system in which suspended particles spontaneously order into flowing crystals when driven by external pressure. Via theory and numerics, we find that particle–particle hydrodynamic interactions drive self-organization under suitable conditions of particle morphology and geometric confinement. Small clusters of asymmetric “tadpole” particles, strongly confined in one direction and weakly confined in another, spontaneously order in a direction perpendicular to the external flow, forming one dimensional lattices. Large suspensions of tadpoles exhibit strong density heterogeneities and form aggregates. By rationally tailoring particle shape, we tame this aggregation and achieve formation of large two-dimensional crystals.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1039/c4sm00664j
