Fast, flexible and low-cost multiphase blood analogue for biomedical and energy applications

During the last two decades, several kinds of particulate blood analogue fluids have been proposed, but none of those were able to mimic the multiphase effects of real blood. Hence, it is clear that it is crucial to develop a simple multiphase blood analogue to be used for in vitro experiments at both macro- and microscale level. To the best of our knowledge, the present work shows for the first time a straightforward and extremely stable blood analogue fluid able to mimic multiphase blood flow phenomena. The present work proposes a simple, low-cost and stable multiphase blood analogue with the ability to mimic microscale blood flow phenomena. The proposed analogue fluid is composed of Brij L4 surfactant micelles suspended in pure water and is extremely easy to be produced. To investigate the ability of this analogue to mimic microscale blood flow phenomena, flow visualizations were performed in a microchannel constriction. In vitro blood phenomena were compared with the measurements performed with the proposed analogue fluid. Additionally, rheological measurements of the multiphase blood analogue were acquired by means of a stress-controlled rheometer and compared with in vitro blood sample viscosity curves. Overall, the results indicate that it is possible to produce a stable particulate fluid with geometrical, mechanical and flow properties similar to in vitro blood. Hence, the proposed analogue has a great potential to be used in flow experiments from macro- to nanoscale levels.