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Abstract

This study addresses a microfluidic approach for mass production and size-control of polydiacetylene (PDA) sensor vesicles using a staggered herringbone micromixer. The PDA is a conjugated polymer sensor with unique optical properties that show blue-to-red color transition and fluorescence emission by various stimulus such as pH changes, heat, and biochemical materials. We have shown that 2-D hydrodynamic focusing method (HDFM) can be applied to synthesize the size-controlled PDA vesicles. However, this method has a limitation that it is difficult to produce a large volume of PDA vesicles solution due to a limited flow rate and a clogging problem. Thus, we use a staggered herringbone micromixer (SHM), fabricated with inclined UV lithography developed by our group, to achieve a large volume of PDA vesicle solution with its size control by varying Reynolds number of the reaching flow. The size distribution of PDA vesicles is measured by dynamic light scattering. The results indicate that PDA vesicles are successfully synthesized using the micromixer and that the production volume can reach up to about 10 ㎖ for an hour while the 2-D HDFM resulted in only 0.24 ㎖.