• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.141-153
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• 2014

Droplet based microfluidic systems have been developed for the application of biological and chemical research field. A picoliter droplet in microfluidic device provides a compartmentalized and well-defined reactor in miniaturized system. The microfluidic system with small droplets can reduce reagent cost and enhance efficiency through automated high-throughput screening system. In this review, we summarize the functionality of droplet based microfluidic system including droplet generation, precise droplet control, and various applications. In addition, this article reviews current applications in chemistry and biology, and discuss advantages of droplet based microfluidics compared with conventional manner.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.545-555
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• 2010

Recently, droplet-based microfluidic systems are widely used in various areas ranging from fundamental science including chemistry, biology, and physics to material science and engineering. This article reviews recent development in the droplet based microfluidic system from basic fabrication of tiny device, principle of droplet formation, merging, mixing, control of droplets, and application for the synthesis of novel functional materials. We discuss strong advantages of the droplet based microfluidics in point of control of particle size, morphologies, shapes, and structures.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2022.04a
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• pp.251-252
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• 2022

The microfluidic controlled droplet manufacturing system is one of the most powerful methods for capsule manufacturing. The microfluidic control method can control the type and size of the capsule by changing the size and configuration of the channel. In addition, by increasing the number of channels, capsules of uniform size can be mass-produced. In this paper, a capsule manufacturing system including flow-focusing and T junction method was designed. In addition, the effectiveness of this system was verified by manufacturing multi-emulsion capsules with a size of 2.2 to 3 mm.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Building Construction Conference
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• 2022.11a
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• pp.247-248
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• 2022

The microfluidic controlled droplet production system is one of the most powerful methods for capsule manufacturing. However, stable production is not possible when the powder is included. We solved the above problem by developing an off-chip droplet production system. we checked the droplet creation mechanism and created a simple repair model. It was possible to produce a uniform and stable droplet regardless of the powder content.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.760-765
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• 2013

Lysozyme crystallization was performed by using flow-focusing chip in droplet-based microfluidic system. Water-in-oil droplets were formed in the system and collected on petri-dish and cross type mold. Liquid-liquid reaction of lysozyme and sodium chloride occurred in the droplet and crystals were observed through microscope. Solution pH was varied as 4.8 and 7.2. Crystals of polyhedron and plate-like shape were obtained at pH 4.8, while needle structure crystals formed at pH 7.2. Lysozyme in single droplet for two pHs were crystallized with constant or decreased droplet size. However, crystals at pH 4.8 were only obtained in the droplet of which size was increased by the interaction between droplets. Droplet volume did not change at pH 7.2 and crystals formed in both droplets.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.41-47
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• 2021

River and stream are the important water supply source in our lives. Eutrophication causes excessive green algae growth including microcystis, which makes harmful to ecosystem and human health. Therefore, the water purification process to remove green algae is essential. In Korea, green algae alarm system exists depending on the concentration of green algae cells in river or stream. To maintain the growth amount under control, green algae monitoring system is being used. However, the unmanned, small and automatic monitoring system would be preferable. In this study, we developed the 3D printed device to measure the concentration of green algae cell using microfluidic droplet generator and deep learning. Deep learning network was trained by using transfer learning through pre-trained deep learning network. This newly developed microfluidic cell counter has sufficient accuracy to be possibly applicable to green algae alarm system.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.106-112
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• 2014

Here, we demonstrated the optimum design of pillar microstructure for efficient microdroplet merging. The microfluidic device mainly consisted of programmable microvalves and pillar microstructures. Based on the system, aqueous droplets were continuously generated at T-junction using actuating of integrated programmable microvalaves under the immiscible continuous fluid (mineral oil containing 0.5 wt% Span 80). The principle of merging process depended on the competitive correlation of hydraulic pressure of continuous phase and Laplace pressure of the droplet. We found that the design of the micropillars controls above two pressures. Finally, it was demonstrated that the microfluidic system could be able to efficient biochemical reaction. We expect that the microfluidic system is useful analytical or reaction tools in fundamental science, biotechnology, and chemical engineering.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.2349-2351
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• 2003

This paper reports a novel microfluidic system, by which microfluidic delivery, transport and control can be digitally realized in femtoliter scale. Microelectronic grade $N_2$ from a pressurized canister was passed through HPLC tubing into a micro injector. The micro injector was driven and controlled digitally by the control system that can apply various control parameters such as pulse frequencies. A front-end of micro nozzle was inserted the dyed oil to collect droplets injected. The diameter of a droplet was measured by a microscope and a CCD camera, and then its volume can be calculated on the assumption that the droplet is spherical. The micro nozzles were simply pulled in glass capillary tubes by the micro puller self-made, and the geometry parameters of the micro nozzles can be adjusted easily. Experiments have successfully been carried out, and the results demonstrated that the proposed digital micro injector possesses three significant advantages : precise ultra-small liquid volume in femtoliter scale, digital microfluidic control and micro devices fabricated by simple glass process, not based on IC process.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Visualization
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.47-52
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• 2017

In droplet-based microfluidic systems, in-droplet preconcentration of a sample is one of the important prerequisites for biochemical or medical analysis. There have been a few studies on preconcentration in a moving droplet, but they are limited to practical applications since 1) their method are time-consuming or 2) they require specific properties such as electric and magnetic properties. In this study, we demonstrated the position control of polystyrene particles of 5 and $10{\mu}m$ in diameter inside a moving water-in-oil droplet using traveling surface acoustic waves. Since the frequencies for effective control of each diameter were found, microparticles with no labels could be utilized. In addition, the proposed method enabled on-demand preconcentration inside a polydimethylsiloxane microchannel. In-droplet preconcentration of microparticles was realized by splitting a mother droplet with manipulated particles at a downstream bifurcation zone. Given these advantages, the proposed system is a promising acoustofluidic lab-on-a-chip platform for preconcentration inside a droplet.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.761-766
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• 2018

Droplet-based microfluidic device has led to transformational new approaches in various applications including materials synthesis and high-throughput screening. However, efforts are required to enhance the production rate to industrial scale because of low production rate in a single droplet generator. In here, we present a method for enhancing production rate of monodisperse droplets via parallelization of flow-focusing generators. For this, we fabricated a three-dimensional monolithic elastomer device (3D MED) that has the 3D channel structures in a single layer, using a double-sided imprinting method. We demonstrated that the production rate of monodisperse droplet is increased by controlling the flow rate of continuous and dispersed phases in 3D MED with 8 droplet generators. Thus, we anticipate that this microfluidic system will be used in wide area including microparticle synthesis and screening system via encapsulation of various materials and cells in monodisperse droplets.