Creating Isolated Liquid Compartments Using Photopatterned Obstacles in Microfluidics

Sure, oil and water don't mix, but there is more to it than just an old adage. The authors show how to reliably trap pockets of either oil or water by sequentially injecting immiscible liquids over photopatterned obstacles in a microchannel. According to their geometric model, the amount of liquid trapped may be controlled by varying the wetting and shape of an obstacle. These findings seem likely to interest researchers working on two-phase flows, microfluidics for lab-on-a-chip applications, or the wetting of fibers and fabrics, for example.