Mass production of shaped particles through vortex ring freezing

Duo An, Alex Warning, Kenneth G. Yancey, Chun-Ti Chang, Vanessa R. Kern, Ashim K. Datta, Paul H. Steen, Dan Luo () and Minglin Ma ()
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Duo An: Cornell University
Alex Warning: Cornell University
Kenneth G. Yancey: Cornell University
Chun-Ti Chang: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University
Vanessa R. Kern: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University
Ashim K. Datta: Cornell University
Paul H. Steen: School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University
Dan Luo: Cornell University
Minglin Ma: Cornell University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract A vortex ring is a torus-shaped fluidic vortex. During its formation, the fluid experiences a rich variety of intriguing geometrical intermediates from spherical to toroidal. Here we show that these constantly changing intermediates can be ‘frozen’ at controlled time points into particles with various unusual and unprecedented shapes. These novel vortex ring-derived particles, are mass-produced by employing a simple and inexpensive electrospraying technique, with their sizes well controlled from hundreds of microns to millimetres. Guided further by theoretical analyses and a laminar multiphase fluid flow simulation, we show that this freezing approach is applicable to a broad range of materials from organic polysaccharides to inorganic nanoparticles. We demonstrate the unique advantages of these vortex ring-derived particles in several applications including cell encapsulation, three-dimensional cell culture, and cell-free protein production. Moreover, compartmentalization and ordered-structures composed of these novel particles are all achieved, creating opportunities to engineer more sophisticated hierarchical materials.

Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms12401

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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12401

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