Designer emulsions using microfluidics (original) (raw)

An emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible liquids, where one liquid is dispersed in the form of small drops in another liquid that forms a continuous phase 1-4 . Common types of emulsions include oil-in-water (o/w), such as milk, and water in oil (w/o), like butter. They are extremely important for a variety of applications such as macromolecular delivery 5-8 , oil recovery 9,10 , food processing 11,12 , and hazardous material handling 13 . The presence of a native or added surfactant is necessary for the long-term stability of emulsions: the surfactant molecules migrate to the liquid-liquid interface and inhibit droplet coalescence 1,2 .