Glass Capillary Microfluidic Device Utilizing Pipette Tips for Droplet Formation

In this study, a rapid prototyping method for droplet generators using pipette tips and glass capillaries (pipette-tip-shelled capillary microfluidic device (PiT-CMD)) is described. The proposed device can be fabricated without precise concentric alignment. The reproducibility of the device and controllability of the droplet size are examined by simulations and experiments. The variation in droplet size among different devices was less than 5%, reflecting the high reproducibility of the device. Moreover, bead encapsulation using a PiT-CMD is demonstrated. In this study, a rapid prototyping method for droplet generators using pipette tips and glass capillaries (pipette-tip-shelled capillary microfluidic device (PiT-CMD)) is described. Simulations and experiments showed that this device has high reproducibility without precise alignment. The variation in droplet size among different devices was less than 5%. Also, beads encapsulation using this device was performed.