Non-Spherical Bio-Imaging Particles
- Detailed Technology Description
- ApplicationNon-spherical particles are beneficial for drug delivery, bioimagingand biometrics due to their large surface area. Currently, the dominant shape of polymerparticles has been spherical because of the difficulty of manufacturing largequantities of monodispersed particles with tunable shapes and sizes. This patented process controls the shape and assembly of polymer droplets within aflow-focusing droplet microfluidic device to form non-spherical particles andchains. The method relies on water-based magnetic liquid (ferrofluid) as acontinuous phase to (1) induce droplet formation (2) controllably change theshape of droplets, and (3) assemble droplets into chains. These ferrofluidsinduce magnetic dipole movement within the droplets, making it possible for thedroplets to deform to non-spherical shapes and assemble into chains of tunablelengths.
- *Abstract
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Technology Summary
Placing the polymers in a ferrofluid allows for manipulationof their shape, as well as creating tunable length chains. When an externalmagnetic field gradient is applied, the non-magnetic polymer droplets insideferrofluids experience both magnetic and hydrodynamic drag forces. This forcecan be used to stretch the spherical shape of droplets into ellipsoids ofdifferent sizes. Other shapes are also possible with different designs ofmagnetic field patterns. The ferrofluids also promote dipole-dipoleinteractions, leading to the assembly of linear chains with tunable lengthsoriented along the magnetic field direction. This process can producenon-spherical droplets at up to 1000 per second.
US Patent No. 8,721,936
Inventors
Leidong Mao, Associate Professor, UGA College of Engineering
Jason Locklin, Associate Professor, UGA Department of Chemistry
Taotao Zhu, UGA College of Engineering
- Country/Region
- USA
