Multiphase microfluidics on a centrifugal platform

Centrifugal microfluidics has been applied to diagnostic and analytic applications in the past. Processing of multiple phases, such as air-liquid or water-oil flows, under the unique hydrodynamic conditions within the centrifugally induced artificial gravity field, however, is investigated in this thesis for the first time. Multiphase processes rely on the „engineering“ of the interfaces between differnet phases. The reproducibility of these processes strongly depends on the stability of the hydrodynamic conditions. Thus, the pulse-free liquid propulsion by the centrifugal force - which is in addition also self-stabilizing by the inertia of the spinning motion - makes the centrifugal approach an attractive candidate for multiphase applications. Within this work, five novel multiphase microfluidic applications are implemented on the centrifugal platform: 1. High-throughput reactive micromixing 2. Production of monodisperse droplet emulsions 3. Encapsulation of living cells 4. Generation of gas-liquid flows 5. Microfluidic integrated DNA-extraction