Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 35: Poster: Micro- and Nanofluidics

CPP 35.13: Poster

Wednesday, March 16, 2011, 17:00–19:00, P2

Droplet-based microfluidic techniques for the investigation of nucleation processses — •Birte Riechers, Frank Wittbracht, Alexander Weddemann, Thomas Koop, and Andreas Hütten — Universtät Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Deutschland

Nucleation is encountered in many different areas of research such as atmospheric cloud formation or phase transitions in production processes of materials. For many processes, however, the detailed mechanisms of nucleation and growth are not well understood. Thus it is of fundamental importance to develop experimental methods to study these mechanisms in more detail. One possibility is the utilization of microfluidic devices, because they allow the production of monodisperse droplets with varying diameters in the 50-500 micrometer size range.

The aim of this work is to establish a microfluidic device for the control of droplet size, shape and solute concentrations. The aqueous droplets produced in this manner can then be studied under external influences like temperature gradients in order to determine their nucleation rates as a function of temperature and droplet size. Hence, studying nucleation kinetics with the use of microfluidic devices may improve our understanding of the principles of nucleation processes.