Bead polymerization
Video showing polymerization of droplets containing polymer, photoinitiator, and mixtures of lanthanide nanocrystals into spectrally encoded beads within a microfluidic labyrinth.
UV-driven polymerization of beads within a microfluidic labyrinth
Bead imaging and release
Video showing one-by-one release of beads from a serpentine microfluidic channel. The goal here is to eventually sort the beads into downstream bins to do cool things.
This video shows beads being metered one-by-one by forcing them through a small constriction at the end of a serpentine channel. The constriction causes a pressure discontinuity known as the "Haines jump instability" and allows the beads to be released individually. Although there are still some kinks to be worked out for this, it looks pretty cool!