Talks

Abstracts for five minute New England Complex Fluids sound bites

57th New England Complex Fluids Meeting

Boston University | Friday, December 13, 2013

 Laura Adams, Thomas Kodger and David Weitz    Harvard University

"Chiral Double Emulsions: Breaking Symmetry with Microfluidics"

A surprisingly robust route for the bias production of single handed chiral structures has been found in generating non-spherical, multi-component double emulsions using glass microfluidic devices. I will show that channeling aqueous fluids through narrow orifices of a multi-bore injection capillary and encapsulating these different fluids as drops inside an ultra-thin sheath of oil is sufficient to produce micron-size chiral structures that break left-right symmetry.

Keywords: breaking symmetry; chirality; microfluidics; double emulsions

53rd New England Complex Fluids Meeting

Harvard University | Friday, November 30, 2012

 L. Adams, J. Bird, T. Franke, V. Manoharan, and D. A. Weitz  Harvard University

" Metamorphosis of “Caterpillar” Double Emulsions"

Familiar insects, such as caterpillars, have segmented abdomens with usually 10-12 segments per insect. How important is the number of segments? For caterpillars, we don’t know, but for ‘caterpillar’ double emulsions, which are cylindrically shaped drops containing inner drops, the number of ‘segments’ or inner drops plays a crucial role in their metamorphosis. Interestingly, not only is number of ‘segments’ a controlling factor in their transformation, but also the size and composition of these ‘segments’ as will be discussed.

Keywords: Caterpillars,Metamorphosis, Microfluidics, Double Emulsions

50th New England Complex Fluids Workshop

Yale University | Friday, March 16, 2012

"One Million Bubbles in a Day"

You are asked to make one million, particle stabilized bubbles in one day, bubble by bubble. In addition, the bubbles need to be 400 microns in size. Can you do it? We will show how it is possible using microfluidics and the purpose behind making one million particle stabilized bubbles.

49th New England Complex Fluids Workshop

Harvard University | Friday, December 2, 2011

 Laura Adams,  Louise Jawerth, Tom Kodger, Shin-Hyun Kim, Vinothan Manoharan, David Weitz    Harvard University

"Cerberus emulsions"

Aptly named Cerberus emulsions by graduate student Louise Jawerth, these three component double emulsions are generated for the first time using microfluidic techniques. This sound bite will address the synthesis of these stable, non-spherical water-oil-water double emulsions and highlight the different configurations that are possible. As a side note, the name Cerberus comes from the Greek mythological dog that has three or more heads; unlike the two-headed Janus god.

46th New England Complex Fluids Meeting

Yale University | Friday, March 18, 2011.

Laura Adams and David A. Weitz   Harvard University

"Microfluidic Generation of “Molecular and Macromolecular” Double Emulsions with Two Different Components "

Non-spherical “molecular and macromolecular” double emulsions with two different components are produced for the first time using glass microfluidic devices containing a dual bore injection tube. The growth dynamics are recorded with a fast camera. At the time of this writing, we are investigating how these complex configurations develop from one dimension to three dimensions and how their development depends on the number of inner drops.

Keywords: Microfluidics, Sphere Packing

44th New England Complex Fluids Meeting

Brandeis University | Friday, September 10, 2010

 Laura Adams and  David Weitz  Harvard University

"Monodispersed Double Emulsions with Two Distinct Inner Drops"

The formation of monodispersed double and higher ordered emulsions, “drops inside of drops”, has revealed a rich range of configurations not possible without the precise control of microfluidics. As a consequence the fabrication of a wide range of materials using microfluidics has emerged as an important field of research for the novel synthesis of new materials with tunable properties, such as composition, size and morphology. This talk will discuss our recent work using dual bore capillaries to create double emulsions with two distinct inner drops and the research opportunities that these novel emulsions present.