Liquid crystallography: 3D microdroplet arrangements using microfluidics

Shui, Lingling and Kooij, E. Stefan and Wijnperle, Daniël and Berg van den, Albert and Eijkel, Jan C.T. (2009) Liquid crystallography: 3D microdroplet arrangements using microfluidics. Soft Matter, 5 (14). pp. 2708-2712. ISSN 1744-683X

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Abstract:	Monodisperse liquid particles (femtolitre oil droplets) are shown to self-organize into three-dimensional (3D) close-packed face-centered cubic (fcc) arrangements. Droplets were formed at a nanochannel-microchannel interface, and the formation of these arrangements occurred at certain flow-rate ratios of oil and water. The remarkably robust and stable structures formed in two different 'crystallographic' orientations of a face-centered cubic lattice, fcc(100) and fcc(111), as evidenced by the occurrence of square and hexagonal patterns at the plane adjacent to the channel wall. The orientation was found to depend on the oil-to-water flow-rate ratio. Similar to solid state crystals, 'crystallographic' features were observed, such as dislocation lines and defects. The 3D arrays presented in this work could provide platforms for a number of applications
Item Type:	Article
Copyright:	© 2009 Royal Society Chemistry
Faculty:	Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) Science and Technology (TNW)
Research Group:	Biomedical and Environmental Sensor systems (BIOS) Physics of Interfaces and Nanomaterials (PIN)
Link to this item:	http://purl.utwente.nl/publications/68303
Official URL:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/b908498c
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