Descripción del proyecto
THE CONTROLLED PRODUCTION OF MICRON AND SUBMICRON SIZED DROPS AND BUBBLES IS ONE OF THE FLUID MECHANICAL CHALLENGES OF MOST INTEREST BOTH SCIENTIFICALLY AND TECHNOLOGICALLY, IN PARTICULAR, EMULSIONS, WHICH ARE DROPS OF ONE LIQUID DISPERSED IN ANOTHER IMMISCIBLE LIQUID, HAVE A VERY BROAD RANGE OF APPLICATIONS, INCLUDING COSMETICS, FOOD INDUSTRY, DRUG DELIVERY, AMONG MANY OTHERS, ON THE OTHER HAND, FOAMS AND BUBBLE SUSPENSIONS ARE ALSO OF HIGH INTEREST IN, FOR INSTANCE, ULTRASONIC IMAGING OF LIVING BODIES, IN MEDICINE, AS VECTORS FOR GENE OR DRUG DELIVERY AND EVEN AS WEAPONS TO DESTROY CLOTS IN TINY BLOOD CAPILLARIES, MICROFLUIDICS APPEARS TO OFFER A PROMISING ROUTE TO FABRICATE THESE SYSTEMS, THE APPEALING OF SUCH COMPLEX BIPHASIC SYSTEMS RUN IN MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES RESIDES ON THE FACT THAT THERE IS A RATHER LARGE RATIO BETWEEN THE GENERATED SURFACE AND THE USED FLUID VOLUMES COMPARED TO CLASSICAL MIXING SCENARIOS, SO VERY TINY QUANTITIES OF MATERIALS ARE NEEDED TO STUDY THEIR INTERACTION, THIS HIGH SURFACE TO VOLUME RATIO ALSO REDUCES DRAMATICALLY INTERACTION TIMES BETWEEN THE PHASES, SO IT BECOMES A FANTASTIC PLATFORM TO SPEED UP ANALYSIS, CONTROLLED WITHIN DROPLET REACTIONS AND PROMOTE OTHER DYNAMIC INTERACTIONS, FROM THE ENGINEERING POINT OF VIEW, UNDERSTANDING HOW MICROFLUIDIC DEVICES WORK IS KEY TO OPTIMIZE THEM AND TO DESIGN MORE EFFECTIVE ONES, THUS, RESEARCH ON FLUID-FLUID INTERACTIONS AT MICRO AND NANO SCALES REMAINS AN ESSENTIAL PART, FROM THE MATERIALS PROSPECTIVE, BY FLOWING TWO OR MORE IMMISCIBLE FLUIDS, OR PERHAPS SUSPENSIONS (SOLID IN FLUIDS), NUMEROUS AUTHORS HAVE DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY TO MAKE NOT ONLY EMULSION DROPS, BUT ALSO SOLID POLYMERIC AND MICROGEL PARTICLES, GAS BUBBLES, AND EVEN PARTICLES WITH ARBITRARY SHAPES, FROM THE HEALTH AND BIO POINT OF VIEW, MICROFLUIDICS OFFER AN ADVANTAGEOUS PLATFORM TO CARRY OUT ANALYSES OF BIOMEDICAL FLUIDS (BLOOD AND OTHER BODILY FLUIDS) WITH MINIMAL QUANTITIES OF ANALYTES, MICROFLUIDICA\MICRO-EMULSIONES\MICRO-BURBUJAS\DISPOSITIVOS MICROFLUIDICOS