Villois, Alessia;
Capasso Palmiero, Umberto;
Mathur, Prerit;
Perone, Gaia;
Schneider, Timo;
Li, Lunna;
Salvalaglio, Matteo;
... Arosio, Paolo; + view all
(2022)
Droplet Microfluidics for the Label‐Free Extraction of Complete Phase Diagrams and Kinetics of Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Finite Volumes.
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10.1002/smll.202202606.
(In press).
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Abstract
Liquid–liquid phase separation of polymer and protein solutions is central in many areas of biology and material sciences. Here, an experimental and theoretical framework is provided to investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of liquid–liquid phase separation in volumes comparable to cells. The strategy leverages droplet microfluidics to accurately measure the volume of the dense phase generated by liquid–liquid phase separation of solutions confined in micro-sized compartments. It is shown that the measurement of the volume fraction of the dense phase at different temperatures allows the evaluation of the binodal lines that determine the coexistence region of the two phases in the temperature-concentration phase diagram. By applying a thermodynamic model of phase separation in finite volumes, it is further shown that the platform can predict and validate kinetic barriers associated with the formation of a dense droplet in a parent dilute phase, therefore connecting thermodynamics and kinetics of liquid–liquid phase separation.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Droplet Microfluidics for the Label‐Free Extraction of Complete Phase Diagrams and Kinetics of Liquid–Liquid Phase Separation in Finite Volumes |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/smll.202202606 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202202606 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode |
| Keywords: | Complete phase diagrams, finite volumes, kinetics, liquid–liquid phase separation, microfluidics, polymers and proteins, thermodynamics |
| UCL classification: | UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10156610 |
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